e-Cigarettes Used by Adolescents to Try to Quit Smoking Are Associated With Less Quitting: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the National Youth Tobacco Survey.

Introduction:
This article is a cross-sectional analysis of the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) from 2015 to 2021, focusing on youth who started smoking cigarettes before they started using e-cigarettes. The study aims to determine the association between using e-cigarettes to quit smoking and having stopped smoking cigarettes.

Key Points:

* The primary analytic subsample included 6435 US middle and high school students.
* Using e-cigarettes to quit smoking was associated with significantly lower odds of having stopped smoking cigarettes (odds ratio, 0.62; 95% confidence interval, 0.45 e0.85), controlling for nicotine dependence and demographics.
* Youth with higher levels of nicotine dependence also had lower odds of having stopped smoking.
* The results were stable over time.
* Sensitivity analyses produced similar results.
* Evidence collected in Korea and Connecticut shows lower levels of having stopped smoking cigarettes among youth who used e-cigarettes.
* A 2015 NYTS study found that past month e-cigarette use among past month cigarette smokers was not associated with cigarette quit attempts or quit contemplation.

Main Message:
The study found that ever-smoking youth who used e-cigarettes "to try to quit using other tobacco products, such as cigarettes" had lower odds of having stopped smoking cigarettes than those who did not use e-cigarettes as to try to quit. The study suggests that adolescents should be discouraged from using e-cigarettes to quit other tobacco products. The study has regulatory implications, as e-cigarettes fall under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products' jurisdiction as consumer products, not for therapeutic purposes. The FDA Center for Tobacco Products is required to consider the effect at the population level among all users when determining if authorizing the sale of a tobacco product is appropriate for the protection of public health.

Glantz SA. e-Cigarettes Used by Adolescents to Try to Quit Smoking Are Associated With Less Quitting: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the National Youth Tobacco Survey. The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine. 2023;72(3):359-364. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2022.10.011