18 in Pediatrics, more than half of current young electronic cigarette users say they want to quit vaping, and more than two-thirds say they tried to quit vaping in the previous year.
Hongying Dai, Ph.D., of the University of Nebraska in Omaha, examined the prevalence of teenage intention to quit vaping, past-year quit attempts, and quit frequency using data from the 2020 National Youth Tobacco Survey (1,660 adolescents, typically aged 11 to 18 years).
Half Of The E-Cigarette Users In Their Teens Want To Quit
53.4 percent of current e-cigarette users intend to quit vaping, and 67.4 percent have attempted to quit vaping. Girls, as well as users of a changeable system (vs disposable e-cigarettes: aOR, 0.4) and dual or poly users, exhibited a lower intention to stop than boys (aOR, 0.7). (versus sole e-cigarette use: aOR, 0.7).
In the past few years, the level of vaping among teens had been at an alarming increase but this research has made the expert take a sigh of relief now. However, there must be a proper rehab plan and implementation that such smokers can easily access them and get rid of smoking said one of the team members of the research team.
There was a link found between e-cigarette harm perception and intention to quit (aOR, 2.2) and quit attempts in the previous year (aOR, 1.6). Adolescents who vaped out of curiosity had a higher likelihood of past-year quit efforts (aOR, 1.4), whereas those who used e-cigarettes to mask vaping had a lower likelihood of intention to quit (aOR, 0.4) and past-year quit attempts (aOR, 0.4). (aOR, 0.7). This made the experts find better ways to motivate such smokers.
The findings of the study will be used to design multidimensional vaping cessation programs that take into account sex, e-cigarette devices, vaping causes and patterns, harm perception, and nicotine dependence
However, according to Dai in Pediatrics, E-cigarette harm perception was positively linked with both desires to quit (aOR2.2, P0.0001) and past-year attempts to quit (aOR1.6, P=0.0037).
Teens who tried e-cigarettes out of curiosity had a greater chance of trying to quit in the previous year (aOR 1.4, P=0.0306). Those who used e-cigarettes to hide their use, on the other hand, were less likely to report both their intention to quit (aOR 0.4, P0.0001) and previous quit attempts (aOR 0.7, P=0.0126).
The average number of quit attempts in the previous year was 5.3; however, this number was lower for girls and young women, users of a refillable device like JUUL, and those who reported nicotine cravings.
The differences could be attributable in part to the polls’ locations (NYTS is conducted at schools, while PATH is conducted at homes) and question-wording, she also emphasized that the ever-changing e-cigarette market likely played a factor.
For example, that significant media coverage of vaping hazards in 2019 in response to allegations of lung ailments may have influenced adolescent views toward e-cigarettes. These qualities may boost the attraction of vaping and the amount of nicotine consumed.”
Furthermore, a growing corpus of data demonstrating the negative health impacts of adolescent e-cigarette usage has been distributed through social media and news channels since 2017. New legislation, such as Tobacco 21, which makes it more difficult for persons under the age of 21 to purchase tobacco and nicotine products, is also likely to have influenced cessation behavior and it needs to be rectified and youth needs to be properly voiced about this on a serious note.
“The study findings inform the development of multifaceted vaping cessation programs to take sex, e-cigarette devices, vaping reasons and patterns, harm perception, and nicotine dependence into account,” Dai writes.
