Underage Vaping Up

The number of U.S. middle school students and high school students using e-cigarettes increased to 5.3 million in 2019 from 3.8 million in 2018, according to a study published by JAMA Network.

From 2017 to 2019, “current” (past 30 day) e-cigarette use more than doubled among high school students (from 11.7 percent to 27.5 percent) and tripled among middle school students (from 3.3 percent to 10.5 percent).

In 2019, 1.6 million middle school students and high school students used e-cigarettes on at least 20 days a month, according to the study. Nearly 1 million are daily e-cigarette users, including one out of five high school e-cigarette users.

Juul is by far the most popular e-cigarette brand among kids. Among current e-cigarette users, 59.1 percent of high school students and 54.1 percent of middle school students reported Juul as their usual e-cigarette brand. No other brand topped 10 percent.

Most youth e-cigarette users use flavored e-cigarettes, according to the study. Fruit, menthol or mint, and candy, desserts or other sweets were the most commonly reported flavors.

Youth use of mint and menthol e-cigarettes increased sharply in 2019 after Juul restricted the availability of other flavors.