Tobacco use and addiction most often begin during youth and young adulthood. Youth use of tobacco in any form is unsafe (1). To determine the prevalence and trends of current (past 30-day) use of nine tobacco products (cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, e-cigarettes, hookahs, tobacco pipes, snus, dissolvable tobacco, and bidis) among U.S. middle (grades 6–8) and high school (grades 9–12) students, CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) analyzed data from the 2011–2014 National Youth Tobacco Surveys (NYTS).
In 2014, e-cigarettes were the most commonly used tobacco product among middle (3.9%) and high (13.4%) school students. Between 2011 and 2014, statistically significant increases were observed among these students for current use of both e-cigarettes and hookahs (p<0.05), while decreases were observed for current use of more traditional products, such as cigarettes and cigars, resulting in no change in overall tobacco use. Consequently, 4.6 million middle and high school students continue to be exposed to harmful tobacco product constituents, including nicotine.
Nicotine exposure during adolescence, a critical window for brain development, might have lasting adverse consequences for brain development, causes addiction, and might lead to sustained tobacco use. For this reason, comprehensive and sustained strategies are needed to prevent and reduce the use of all tobacco products among youths in the United States.
NYTS is a cross-sectional, school-based, self-administered, pencil-and-paper questionnaire administered to U.S. middle and high school students. Information is collected on tobacco control outcome indicators to monitor the impact of comprehensive tobacco control policies and strategies and inform FDA’s regulatory actions. A three-stage cluster sampling procedure was used to generate a nationally representative sample of U.S. students who attend public and private schools in grades 6–12. This report includes data from 4 years of NYTS (2011–2014), using an updated definition of current tobacco use that excludes kreteks (sometimes referred to as clove cigarettes).*
Of 258 schools selected for the 2014 NYTS, 207 (80.2%) participated, with a sample of 22,007 (91.4%) among 24,084 eligible students; the overall response rate was 73.3%. Sample sizes and overall response rates for 2011, 2012, and 2013 were 18,866 (72.7%), 24,658 (73.6%), and 18,406 (67.8%), respectively. Participants were asked about current (past 30-day) use of cigarettes, cigars (defined as cigars, cigarillos, or little cigars), smokeless tobacco (defined as chewing tobacco, snuff, or dip), e-cigarettes,† hookahs,§ tobacco pipes (pipes),¶ snus, dissolvable tobacco (dissolvables), and bidis.
Current use for each product was defined as using a product on ≥1 day during the past 30 days. Tobacco use was categorized as “any tobacco product use,” defined as use of one or more tobacco products and “≥2 tobacco product use,” defined as use of two or more tobacco products. Data were weighted to account for the complex survey design and adjusted for nonresponse; national prevalence estimates with 95% confidence intervals and population estimates rounded down to the nearest 10,000 were computed. Estimates for current use in 2014 are presented for any tobacco use, use of ≥2 tobacco products, and use of each tobacco product, by selected demographics for each school level (high and middle).
Orthogonal polynomials were used with logistic regression analysis to examine trends from 2011 to 2014 in any tobacco use, use of ≥2 tobacco products, and use of each tobacco product by school level, controlling for grade, race/ethnicity, and sex and simultaneously assessing for linear and nonlinear trends.
Source: Tobacco Use Among Middle and High School Students — United States, 2011–2014 « Teen Challenge USA
