Health officials may be underestimating the prevalence of teen e-cigarette use

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New research case report describes lung injury related to e-cigarette use The study, published in JAMA Network Open , suggests that health officials might be underestimating the prevalence of teen e-cigarette use. "We've suspected that the brand Juul contributed to the increase of e-cigarette use among teens, but I think we were surprised at the extent of the brand's popularity among young people," said Mary Hrywna, an assistant professor at the Center for Tobacco Studies and the Rutgers School of Public Health who co-authored the study with Michelle B. Manderski, also from the Center and School of Public Health, and Cristine Delnevo, director of the Rutgers Center for Tobacco Studies. Hrywna added that "almost half of current e-cigarette users said Juul was the first e-cigarette product they tried and more than half of the high students reported seeing people use Juul on school grounds." Researchers found that current and frequent e-cigarette use was highest among 12th graders and in fact one out of ten high school seniors reported using e-cigarettes on 20 or more days in the 30 days preceding the survey. This pattern of heavy use is consistent with nicotine addiction. It's however not surprising given the high nicotine delivery of Juul". Cristine Delnevo, director of the Rutgers Center for Tobacco Studies "We need to think more carefully about how future questions are constructed when assessing e-cigarette use among teens," Hrywna said. "Policymakers must understand how certain brands have driven e-cigarette use and carve out policies that address restrictions by age and location as well the high nicotine concentrations in these products if we hope to reduce these prevalence rates." Source: Rutgers University Journal reference: Hrywna, M., et al. (2020) Prevalence of Electronic Cigarette Use Among Adolescents in New Jersey and Association With Social Factors. JAMA Network Open . doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.20961 .