Emergence of electronic cigarette use in US adolescents and the link to traditional cigarette use

•An innovative method is used to examine age trends in adolescent e-cigarette use from a large, contemporary data set.•Rates of e-cigarette use increase faster than traditional cigarette use from ages 13-16.•Risk for e-cigarette use was higher for male and Hispanic adolescents at certain ages.•E-cigarette and traditional cigarette use were strongly associated throughout adolescence, particularly prior to age 15.

BackgroundElectronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are increasingly used by US adolescents and may be a gateway to traditional cigarette use. We examine rates of both products by age and examine differences in age-varying rates by sex and race/ethnicity.MethodsData are from the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey, a national sample of US middle and high school students (n = 22.007); students ages 11-19 were included. Past 30-day e-cigarette and traditional cigarette use were examined as a function of age; sex and race/ethnicity were included as moderators. The age-varying association between e-cigarette and traditional cigarette use was also examined.ResultsRates of e-cigarette use increase faster than traditional cigarette use from ages 13-16. Compared to females, males had higher rates of e-cigarette use from ages 14-17.5 and traditional cigarette use from ages 15-18. Between ages 12-14, more Hispanic adolescents used e-cigarettes compared to White or Black adolescents; after age 14 Hispanics and Whites reported similar rates, peaking at twice the rate for Blacks. Hispanic adolescents report greater traditional cigarette use versus Whites between ages 12-13, but lower rates between ages 15-18. E-cigarette use was strongly associated with traditional cigarette use, particularly during early adolescence [OR > 40 before age 12].ConclusionsYoung Hispanic adolescents are at elevated risk for use of e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes during early adolescence. During early adolescence, youth using e-cigarettes are more likely to smoke traditional cigarettes compared to youth not using e-cigarettes. The study of age-varying effects holds promise for advancing understanding of disparities in health risk behaviors.