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. 2021 Dec 13;16(12):e0261243.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0261243. eCollection 2021.

Age of e-cigarette initiation in USA young adults: Findings from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study (2013-2017)

Adriana Pérez  1   2 , Meagan A Bluestein  2 , Arnold E Kuk  2 , Baojiang Chen  1   2
Affiliations

Age of e-cigarette initiation in USA young adults: Findings from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study (2013-2017)

Adriana Pérez et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Introduction: There is a lack of research prospectively estimating the age of e-cigarette initiation in U.S. young adults.

Methods: Secondary analysis of PATH young adults across 2013-2017 (waves 1-4) were conducted. We prospectively estimated age of initiation of: ever, past 30-day, and fairly regular e-cigarette use using weighted interval-censoring survival analyses. Interval-censoring Cox proportional hazard models adjusting for sex, race/ethnicity, and previous use of six other tobacco products (cigarettes, traditional cigars, filtered cigars, cigarillos, hookah, and smokeless tobacco) were fitted for each of the three e-cigarette initiation outcomes.

Results: Among never e-cigarette users, by age 21, 16.8% reported ever use, 7.2% reported past 30-day use, and 2.3% reported fairly regular e-cigarette use. Males had increased risk of initiating ever, past 30-day, and fairly regular e-cigarette use at earlier ages compared to females. Hispanic young adults had increased risk of initiating ever and past 30-day e-cigarette use at earlier ages compared to Non-Hispanic White young adults. Previous use of other tobacco products before e-cigarette initiation increased the risk of an earlier age of e-cigarette initiation.

Conclusion: Prevention and education campaigns should focus on young adults in order to alleviate the public health burden of initiating e-cigarette use at earlier ages.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Estimated age of e-cigarette initiation in PATH young adults.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Estimated age of e-cigarette initiation in PATH young adults stratified by sex.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Estimated age of e-cigarette initiation in PATH young adults stratified by race/ethnicity.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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