Preferences, use, and perceived access to flavored e-cigarettes among United States adolescents and young adults.

Introduction:
This text provides an analysis of the study examining preferences, use, and perceived access to flavored e-cigarettes among adolescents and young adults in the United States. The study was conducted as a cross-sectional national online panel survey of 2253 participants aged 14-20 who had ever used e-cigarettes at least three times. The participants reported their flavor preferences, use reasons, and perceived ease of access.

Key Points:

* The study found that most past 30-day e-cigarette users used reusable pod (77%) or modern disposable (68%) devices, and ≥1 non-tobacco (92%), sweet (76%), and/or menthol flavors including fruit-ice (70%).
* Most past 30-day users (70%) and non-users (63%) perceived it would be somewhat or very easy to acquire e-cigarettes in flavors they like.
* Latent class analysis identified four e-cigarette flavor preference classes: mint, no preference, fruit/sweet, and dislikes ≥1 flavor.
* Membership in fruit/sweet and mint classes was associated with using e-cigarettes ≥50 times.
* Fruit/sweet membership was inversely associated with combustible tobacco use.
* Participants were asked about their perceived ease of access to flavored e-cigarettes, by flavor and method of acquisition.
* The main message of the study is that young e-cigarette users maintained ample access to flavored and cartridge-based products. Stronger access restrictions and enforcement are required to reduce youth e-cigarette use.

Main Message:
The study highlights the continued access and use of flavored e-cigarettes among adolescents and young adults, despite the enforcement prioritization policy by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2020. The findings suggest that stronger access restrictions and enforcement are necessary to reduce youth e-cigarette use. The study also emphasizes the need for further research to understand the impact of e-cigarette flavor preferences on youth use and the potential policy implications.

Chaffee BW, Halpern-Felsher B, Croker JA, Werts M, Couch ET, Cheng J. Preferences, use, and perceived access to flavored e-cigarettes among United States adolescents and young adults. Drug and alcohol dependence reports. 2022;3. doi:10.1016/j.dadr.2022.100068