Epidemiology and Risk Factors of Vaping

posted on Jul 30, 2019

As many as 5% of middle school students and 16% of high school students reported using e-cigarettes in the past 30 days, with reports of high school use increasing by 75% from 2017 to 2018 [3].
Common reasons for initiation include peer or family member use, flavoring agents, use of other tobacco products, and perception of less risk compared to other forms of tobacco.[4,5] E-cigarette use is also positively and independently associated with progression to smoking, and one-third also report using e-cigarettes for other substances [6,7].
Other common characteristics in adolescent users are older adolescent age, male gender, impulsive behavior, daily or heavy smoking, sexual promiscuity, in addition to injury and violence co-morbidities
Compared to non-using peers, teens using only e-cigarettes have higher odds to ever try or currently use marijuana or alcohol, try any illicit drug over a lifetime, and misuse prescription medications [8-12].