Journal Article

Prevalence of using pod-based vaping devices by brand among youth and young adults

Tan, Andy S L, Soneji, Samir S, Choi, Kelvin, Moran, Meghan B

2020

Overview

Table 1 Participant characteristics and weighted prevalence of past 30-day use JUUL, Vuse, and Suorin by characteristics of youth and young adults Youth (N=1000) Young adult (N=1000) Participant characteristics N (%) or mean (SD) JUUL use (%) Suorin use (%) Vuse use (%) N (%) or mean (SD) JUUL use (%) Suorin use (%) Vuse use (%) Age 16.3 (0.7) – – – 20.9 (2.0) – – –  Gender        Male 397 (39.7) 13.3 4.6 1.9 436 (43.6) 23.3§ 9.3§ 9.2§  Female 544 (54.4) 13.2 4.3 1.8 540 (54.0) 12.8§ 4.2§ 3.3§  Transgender or other gender identities 57 (5.7) 8.2 4.1 5.8 24 (2.4) 19.2§ 3.6§ 1.9§  Missing 2 (0.2) – – – 0 (0.0) – – – Sexual orientation*        Heterosexual – – – – 795 (79.5) 17.4 7.2 6.6  Lesbian or gay – – – – 40 (4.0) 20.9 4.7 2.1  Bisexual – – – – 133 (13.3) 24.7 4.0 2.6  Something else – – – – 14 (1.4) 10.7 0.0 0.0  Missing – – – – 18 (1.8) – – – Race/ethnicity        Non-Hispanic white 448 (44.8) 16.1§ 5.6 1.6 490 (49.0) 19.8 7.2 5.6  Non-Hispanic black 179 (17.9) 6.3§ 2.9 2.2 184 (18.4) 11.7 7.1 7.2  Hispanic 215 (21.5) 12.1§ 2.3 3.4 219 (21.9) 19.9 4.7 6.8  Non-Hispanic other races 158 (15.8) 7.1§ 4.5 1.8 107 (10.7) 14.8 7.9 6.3 Highest grade of school completion        9th grade or below 191 (19.1) 9.5 2.2§ 1.1 24 (2.4) 16.4 9.1 4.7  10th grade 286 (28.6) 13.4 3.2§ 1.7 18 (1.8) 0.0 0.0 12.7  11th grade 331 (33.1) 13.2 7.0§ 2.4 34 (3.4) 10.1 5.9 2.3  12th grade/high school degree/General Education Development (GED) 169 (16.9) 17.2 6.3§ 4.6 377 (37.7) 17.9 8.4 7.3  Some college, but no degree 0 (0.0) – – – 303 (30.3) 21.4 7.3 5.5  Associate degree 0 (0.0) – – – 94 (9.4) 15.2 6.3 6.3  Bachelor's degree and above 0 (0.0) – – – 141 (14.1) 20.9 2.0 4.6  Missing 23 (2.3) – – – 9 (0.9) – – – Cigarette smoking status        Never Smoker 500 (50.0) 6.7§ 1.9§ 1.0§ 292 (29.2) 7.8§ 5.1§ 5.1  Ever but not past 30-day Smoker 379 (37.9) 28.8§ 9.7§ 4.8§ 159 (15.9) 27.0§ 5.1§ 4.8  Past 30-day Smoker† 121 (12.1) 50.3§ 22.0§ 9.0§ 549 (54.9) 30.0§ 12.5§ 10.2 Ever tried other tobacco products‡        No 644 (64.4) 8.3§ 3.1§ 1.4§ 363 (36.3) 10.9§ 4.9§ 2.0§  Yes 343 (34.3) 40.6§ 12.4§ 6.2§ 628 (62.8) 32.6§ 10.3§ 14.4§  Missing 13 (1.3) – – – 9 (0.9) – – – *Youth participants were not asked the sexual orientation question. †This category included all participants who smoked in the past 30 days, including those who may not have smoked 100 lifetime cigarettes. ‡Other tobacco products include hookah or waterpipe, cigars, cigarillos, or little cigars, smokeless (chew, snuff, or dip), roll-your-own, pipe, snus, dissolvables, and bidi. §χ2 tests significant at p<0.05. Discussion The findings of higher rates of awareness and current use of JUUL compared with Suorin and Vuse e-cigarettes are aligned with JUUL as the market leader,1 being the most popular device among high-school youth who ever used e-cigarettes,10 increased media and news coverage, promotion on social media platforms,1 online engagement about JUUL,11 12 and sharing about JUUL via word-of-mouth in recent years.13 The worrisome trend of social normalisation of e-cigarette use among young people could potentially renormalise combustible cigarette use due to a fourfold increased odds of initiating smoking among e-cigarette users.14 The high nicotine content of newer pod-based vaping devices may further increase the risks of nicotine addiction and initiating smoking.15 Efforts to restrict access of pod-based devices, ban flavours that appeal to young people, and counter-marketing campaigns on the addictiveness of vaping are needed to stem this growing trend. Funding Data collection for this study was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and Food and Drug Administration Center for Tobacco Products (K01DA037903-S1). Funding sources did not have any role in the study design; collection, analysis and interpretation of data; writing the report; the decision to submit the report for publication.

• Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group Ltd,BMJ,BMJ Publishing Group LTD
• Subject: Adolescent / Adult / Adults / Advertising - statistics & numerical data / Age / Bisexuality / Cigarette smoking / Cigars / Consumer Behavior - statistics & numerical data / Data collection / Devices / Digital media / Drug abuse / Electronic cigarettes / Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems - statistics & numerical data / Female / Flammability / Flavors / Hispanic Americans / Humans / Letter / Male / Medical research / News media / Nicotine / pod-based electronic nicotine delivery systems / Population / Prevalence / Sexual behavior / Sexual orientation / Smoking / Studies / Surveillance / Surveys and Questionnaires / Tobacco / Tobacco industry / United States / Vaping / Vaping - epidemiology / Vaping - psychology / Young Adult / Young adults / youth