United States – Vaping among U. S. teens aged 9 through 12 declined to 5% during the 2021 academic year, which was the latest year that the data was available.
It has fallen from 7.2%, which is above. A new report revealed the number of teens who vaped last year.
Decline in Teen Vaping, But Concerns Persist
Nevertheless, the 5% vaping levels observed by researchers in 2021 more than doubled the 2% levels observed in 2015, as reported by HealthDay.
However, it is also less than the 6% of adults who vaped in 2022.
Overall, this is not favorable for teens’ health over the long run, as stated by the research study’s senior author, Panagiota Kitsantas.
“Almost 100% of e-cigarettes sold in the U.S. contain nicotine, and the use of these products by adolescents may lead to future abuse of and addiction to additional substances,” said Kitsantas, chair of Population Health and Social Medicine at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
This study is based on the examination of the data from a database containing the behaviors of the youth that is being operated by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for a long time.
The vaping data season, which began in 2015, had nearly 57,000 participants.
The findings also demonstrated the shift in which teenagers become more inclined to vape.
In 2015, boys were more common smokers as compared to girls (2.8% vs 1.1%, respectively). Nevertheless, in contrast to boys, by 2021, girls were more prone to take vaping 5.6% vs 4.5%, respectively). Finally, the evaluation proved that women accounted for 20% of decision-making while men were 30%, respectively, in this case.
Seniors Lead in E-cigarette Use
During the study period, from 2015 to 2021, seniors in the 12th grade constantly demonstrated the highest rate of e-cigarette use. The same holds true for lower grades, according to the study.
Health Implications and Risks
Nicotine addiction and drug-seeking behavior “is heightened by the practice of vaping,” and also mood disorders. The risks of these all increase an individual’s chances of eventual illness or death. This has been warned by Dr. Charles Hennekens, the study lead author and professor of medicine at Florida Atlantic.
While vaping may be considered an alternative to conventional smoking, scientific evidence has shown that 8 out of 10 “are more likely to switch to cigarette smoking, which is the leading preventable cause of death in the U. S. and the world,” according to Hennekens in a university news release, as reported by HealthDay.
Addressing the Rise of Teen Vaping
Attributing to Kitsantas, the ever-increasing popularity of vaping among youth implies the necessity of some forms of intervention, such as mass media campaigns and peer factors. She also assumes that doctors need to always be keen on screening young patients about whether or not they vape.