Vaping, still trending in young populations?

A new government report published on June 7th has confirmed that vaping rates are steady among high-school students. Researchers are skeptical, however, as the study performed last year did not take into account the boom in vaping for a particular brand of electronic cigarettes.

The research, organised by the Centre for Disease Control, did not pose any specific questions regarding Juul electronic cigarettes. This is surprising, as the sales figures for these trendy vape sticks increased dramatically last year. In this contexte, Georgia State University researcher Jidong Huang believes that the study did not have sufficient data. Juul vaping gear hit the market in 2015, with a similar design to USB keys and allowing for USB socket charging, plugged right into the computer. With their discreet format, they could be used in total secrecy, even in class.

 

Classic cigarettes losing ground to their electronic counterparts

The latest CDC study is based on a yearly questionnaire filled out by 20 000 students. The study focused on students who declared having consumed a tobacco product in the past 30 days. Smokers appear to be less numerous than they were in 2016, while e-cigarettes made excellent sales figures before falling dramatically. The number of vaping enthusiasts in high-school supposedly fell from 3 million to 2.2 million in just a year. This decline was attributed to health awareness campaigns and sales restrictions.

According to the study conclusions, vaping in school has stagnated since 2016 with 1 out of 9 students having consumed e-cigarettes, making it the most popular nicotine-delivery product. Consumption of traditional cigarettes has fallen steadily, and now young people enjoy them about as much as they enjoy cigars. This is the first time that cigar smoking rates have matches those of cigarettes in adolescent populations.

According to Brian King, who supervised the CDC study on tobacco consumption, a significant portion of Juul-users were interviewed. He did admit however that they should have focused some questions on this trendy device.

There are plans to put together a similar yearly survey under the supervision of Michigan University on tobacco usage in young populations, declared Richard Miech, who will be managing this new study.