Youth Tobacco Product Use in the US

[CarolT]

A new study, Youth tobacco Product Use in the United States. Youn Ok Lee, et al. Pediatrics Vol. 135 No. 3 March 1, 2015 pp. 409 -415.

METHODS: Estimates of current use were calculated for cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, hookah, e-cigarettes, pipes, bidis, kreteks, snus, and dissolvable tobacco by using data from the 2012 National Youth Tobacco Survey (n = 24 658), a nationally representative sample of US middle and high school students.

RESULTS: Among youth, 14.7% currently use 1 or more tobacco products. Of these, 2.8% use cigarettes exclusively, and 4% use 1 noncigarette product exclusively; 2.7% use cigarettes with another product (dual use), and 4.3% use 3 or more products (polytobacco use). Twice as many youth use e-cigarettes alone than dual use with cigarettes.

Youth Tobacco Product Use in the United States

 

[caramel]

I like the fact that they are reffering to "nicotine dependence" not "nicotine addiction".

 

[CarolT]

I like the fact that they are reffering to "nicotine dependence" not "nicotine addiction".

Why? Both are equally ridiculous and defamatory.

 

[caramel]

Addiction implies harm. Dependence is innocuous.

Looks to me that, when it comes to health issues, the medical profession is more careful with their choice of words than the mechanical engineers.

 

[Lessifer]

I'm not sure if estimating from 2012 data is really relevant, given the more recent explosion in popularity. I would love to see the same kind of analysis done on the more recent data.

 

[CarolT]

I'm not sure if estimating from 2012 data is really relevant, given the more recent explosion in popularity. I would love to see the same kind of analysis done on the more recent data.

There's a newer dataset available, for 2013, that you can download and examine. That's probably as close to 'right now' as you can get.
CDC - National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) - Smoking & Tobacco Use

 

[Bill Godshall]

The authors of this study and the Academy of Pediatrics have been lobbying for the FDA's deeming regulation (to ban nearly all e-cigs and many other OTP) by deceiving the public to believe that all OTP (smokeless tobacco, little cigars, large cigars, hookah and e-cigs) is just as addictive and harmful as cigarette smoking, and that OTP is now a greater public health threat to youth than cigarettes.

And by citing and comparing only "past 30 day" use of different tobacco products, this study is trying to confuse readers to believe that once per month use of an e-cig, cigar and/or hookah is equivalent to smoking a half pack of cigarettes per day.

Brad Rodu's bar graph succinctly explains what the NYTS actually found regarding cigarette and e-cig use among teens (and how CDC intentionally misled and scared the public by issuing multiple press releases claiming that e-cig use among youth is sharply increasing and is an epidemic).
http://rodutobaccotruth.blogspot.com/2015/02/memo-to-cdc-tell-whole-truth-about-e.html

 

[CarolT]

Yes, they claim that "Our findings are consistent with a view that OTP use among youth does not represent harm reduction." But they're not talking only about e-cigs. Looking at the 1,950 18+ year olds, it seems they're more likely to exclusively use cigars (think 'non-smokers' blunts) than cigarettes (107, 5.5% vs 93, 4.8%) or e-cigs (25, 1.3%). Two-product users were more likely to be cigarettes and cigars (70, 3.59%) than cigarettes and e-cigs (18, 0.9%). 197 (10.1%) used three or more products, and the vast majority of them (169, 8.7% of total subjects and 85.8% of three-product users) also used cigarettes. Altogether, 1,306 of the 1,950 (67%) used no tobacco product - which means that 33% did! But Rodu only has cigarettes and e-cigs in his graph.

 

[Jman8]

METHODS: Estimates of current use were calculated

It's good to know that calculating estimates is what popular science is basing itself on. IOW, "we do not know."

RESULTS: Among youth, 14.7% currently use 1 or more tobacco products. Of these, 2.8%

Also good to know that their math reads as incredibly low.

Around 15% of youth use tobacco. (So let's say that equals 1000 persons)
Of these, around 3%.... (would mean that 30 out of the 1000) are doing thus and so.

That doesn't bode too well for the point they are trying to make, and failing on other grounds. Both the methods and results are questionable and/or of very very very little concern.

 

[catlady60]

Addiction implies harm. Dependence is innocuous.

Looks to me that, when it comes to health issues, the medical profession is more careful with their choice of words than the mechanical engineers.

Dependence implies the condition can be managed by slowly weaning someone off the substance, such as nic. Addiction implies a compulsive nature which can often become self-destructive or even destructive to others. With that defintion in mind, vapers may be dependent on nic, but not addicted to it, with the main evidence being a vaper's tendency to step down nicotine levels, something most smokers cannot do with analogs.

 

[CarolT]

Dependence implies the condition can be managed by slowly weaning someone off the substance, such as nic. Addiction implies a compulsive nature which can often become self-destructive or even destructive to others. With that defintion in mind, vapers may be dependent on nic, but not addicted to it, with the main evidence being a vaper's tendency to step down nicotine levels, something most smokers cannot do with analogs.

This is false in several obvious ways. First, according to Gallup polls, 48% of quitters "Just quit/Decided it was time/Quit cold turkey." This is the most frequent response, and it indicates that smokers are not dependent, and that stepping down nicotine levels is not necessarily the best way to quit. Just 2% "Cut down, then quit." Also consider that only 5% used a nicotine patch, 3% used e-cigarettes, 2% used prescription drugs, and 1% used nicotine gum.
Tobacco and Smoking | Gallup Historical Trends

 

[caramel]

First, according to Gallup polls, 48% of quitters "Just quit/Decided it was time/Quit cold turkey." This is the most frequent response, and it indicates that smokers are not dependent, and that stepping down nicotine levels is not necessarily the best way to quit.

May I remind you that the majority of quitters (52%) did not get there through "cold turkey"?

 

[DrMA]

ANTZ anti-logic: define the cure the same as the problem. Complain when ppl use the cure that the problem is increasing

 

[rothenbj]

This is false in several obvious ways. First, according to Gallup polls, 48% of quitters "Just quit/Decided it was time/Quit cold turkey." This is the most frequent response, and it indicates that smokers are not dependent, and that stepping down nicotine levels is not necessarily the best way to quit. Just 2% "Cut down, then quit." Also consider that only 5% used a nicotine patch, 3% used e-cigarettes, 2% used prescription drugs, and 1% used nicotine gum.
Tobacco and Smoking | Gallup Historical Trends

I didn't find these data in your link.

 

[CarolT]

May I remind you that the majority of quitters (52%) did not get there through "cold turkey"?

Apart from the ones that used some non-tobacco nicotine product, the rest besides those 48% are ambiguous. The next highest category at 8% is "Will power/Commitment/Mind over matter." That's not clear whether it was cold turkey or not. Likewise for the other responses.

 

[CarolT]

I didn't find these data in your link.

It's about halfway down the page, where it says, "Trying to be as specific as possible, what strategies or methods for quitting smoking were the most effective for you?"

 

[CarolT]

I'll grant that there may be a generational effect in the Gallup data, if most of the quitters did so before e-cigarettes were around. The remedy for that is more recent data. But it should be of better quality than just an online poll.

 

[rothenbj]

Thanks Carol, missed it skimming through, thanks.