Tuesday, May 05, 2020

The Biggest Vapers Are Former Smokers

Before coronavirus began to dominate the news, another sort of epidemic was capturing our attention: vaping. Remember those days? Here is the latest data on the prevalence of vaping by age group...

Currently use (and ever-used) e-cigarettes by age, 2018
Total 18-plus: 3.2% (14.9%)
Aged 18 to 24: 7.6% (25.8%)
Aged 25 to 44: 4.3% (21.1%)
Aged 45 to 64: 2.1% (11.0%)
Aged 65-plus: 0.8% (4.7%)

Young adults are the biggest users of e-cigarettes, with about one in four 18-to-24-year-olds having ever used them. But age is not the biggest determinant of use. The biggest determinant is cigarette smoking status. Among people who never smoked, only 6.5 percent have ever used e-cigarettes. Among current cigarette smokers, the figure is 49.4 percent. And among former cigarette smokers who quit in the past year, fully 57.3 percent have ever used e-cigarettes and 25.2 percent currently use them. The evidence indicates that cigarette smokers are using e-cigarettes to help them kick the smoking habit.

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, Electronic Cigarette Use among U.S. Adults, 2018

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