The impact of advertising related to adolescent use of electronic cigarettes

E-cigarette advertising and peer influence are largely linked to the initiation of e-cigarette use among U.S. teens, according to a study published online Sept. 29 in JAMA Open Network.

Yu Wang, Ph.D., of the School of Public Health at Georgia State University in Atlanta, and colleagues examined how exposure to e-cigarette advertising and parental and peer use are associated with e-cigarette use in the U.S. teenagers. Analyzes included data from waves 4 (8,548 adolescents; December 2016 to January 2018), 4.5 (10,073 adolescents; December 2017 to December 2018), and 5 (11,641 adolescents; December 2018 to November 2019) Population estimates of tobacco use and health. research.

The researchers found that in each survey, more than 60 percent of teens reported exposure to e-cigarette advertising in the past 30 days. Among teenagers who have never used electronic cigarettesexposure to e-cigarette advertising was associated with a greater likelihood of feeling curious about using e-cigarettes (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.56) and greater odds of ever being an e-cigarette user (aOR, 1.21) and current e-cigarette user (aOR, 1.42) at follow-up. Similarly, adolescents who reported that their best friends used e-cigarettes were more likely to be interested in e-cigarette use (aOR, 4.13) and to initiate using an electronic cigarette at follow-up (aORs, 4.08 and 5.42 for risk of ever use and risk for current use, respectively) compared with adolescents who reported no best friends who used e-cigarettes.

“Efforts to resolve youth vaping must be considered peer influence and include measures to reduce the impact of e-cigarette advertising,” the authors write.

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