Flavored Tobacco Product Use Among Middle and High School Students — United States, 2014

Introduction:
This text is a summary of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) on the use of flavored tobacco products among middle and high school students in the United States. The report presents an analysis of data from the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) to determine the prevalence of past 30-day use of flavored e-cigarettes, hookah tobacco, cigars, pipe tobacco, or smokeless tobacco products, and menthol cigarettes among middle and high school students. The report also examines the proportion of current tobacco product users who have used flavored products.

Key Points:

* The 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act prohibits "characterizing flavors" in cigarettes, but not in other tobacco products.
* US consumption of flavored non-cigarette tobacco products, including flavored cigars and flavored e-cigarettes, has increased in recent years.
* In 2014, 70.0% (3.26 million) of all current youth tobacco users had used at least one flavored tobacco product in the past 30 days.
* Among current users, 63.3%, (1.58 million) had used a flavored e-cigarette, 60.6%, (1.02 million) had used flavored hookah tobacco, and 63.5% (910,000) had used a flavored cigar in the past 30 days.
* The NYTS is a cross-sectional, school-based, self-administered, pencil-and-paper questionnaire administered to U.S. middle school and high school students.
* Participants were asked about past 30-day use of eight different tobacco products, including cigarettes, e-cigarettes, hookah, cigars, tobacco in pipes, smokeless tobacco, snus, and dissolvable tobacco products.
* Participants were also asked about any current use of tobacco products that were "flavored to taste like menthol (mint), alcohol (wine, cognac), candy, fruit, chocolate, or other sweets."

Main Message:
The report highlights the widespread use of flavored tobacco products among middle and high school students in the US. Given the millions of current youth tobacco users, it is crucial for comprehensive tobacco prevention and control strategies to address all forms of tobacco use, including flavored tobacco products, among U.S. youths. The report suggests that local jurisdictions can act to limit or restrict sales of flavored tobacco products in their communities, and additional strategies such as increasing the price of tobacco products, adopting comprehensive smoke-free laws, implementing advertising and promotion restrictions, and raising the minimum age of purchase for all tobacco products to age 21 years can reduce youth tobacco use.

Corey, Catherine G, Bridget K Ambrose, Benjamin J Apelberg, and Brian A King. “Flavored Tobacco Product Use Among Middle and High School Students — United States, 2014” 64, no. 38 (2015).