Some 16% of high school and 5.3% of middle school students in the U.S. used e-cigarettes in 2015, according to new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (April 15, 2016, Vol. 65:14, pp. 361-367).
Among high school students, e-cigarette use increased from 1.5% to 16% from 2011 to 2015, according to the data from the 2015 National Youth Tobacco Survey used in the report. During the same time period, use of e-cigarettes increased from 0.6% to 5.3% among middle school students, while cigarette use dropped for both groups, according to the report.
The survey found that more than 4.5 million middle and high school students were considered "current users" of a tobacco product in 2015. A current user was defined as having used tobacco at least once in the last 30 days.
"E-cigarettes are now the most commonly used tobacco product among youth, and use continues to climb," stated CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, in a press release. "No form of youth tobacco use is safe. Nicotine is an addictive drug and use during adolescence may cause lasting harm to brain development."
Overall tobacco use by middle and high school students has not changed since 2011, according to the CDC.
