Introduction: Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) marketing has increased considerably since the product entered the US market in 2007, thereby warranting additional surveillance to monitor recent trends in population-level awareness and utilization. We assessed the prevalence, characteristics, and trends in e-cigarette awareness and use among nationally representative samples of US adults during 2010-2013.
Methods: Data came from the 2010-2013 HealthStyles survey, an annual consumer-based web survey of US adults aged ≥ 18 years. Sample sizes ranged from 2,505 (2010) to 4,170 (2012). Descriptive statistics were used to assess e-cigarette awareness, ever use, and current use (use within the past 30 days) overall and by sex, age, race/ethnicity, education, income, US region, and cigarette smoking status. Trends were assessed using logistic regression.
Results: During 2010-2013, increases (p < .05) were observed for e-cigarette awareness (40.9%-79.7%), ever use (3.3%-8.5%), and current use (1.0%-2.6%). Awareness increased among all socio demographic subpopulations during 2010-2013 (p < .05); an increase in ever use of e-cigarettes occurred among all sociodemographic groups except those aged 18-24 years, Hispanics, and those living in the Midwest (p < .05). During 2010-2013, ever use increased among current (9.8%-36.5%) and former (2.5%-9.6%) cigarette smokers (p < .05), but it remained unchanged among never smokers (1.3%-1.2%).
Conclusions: Awareness and use of e-cigarettes increased considerably among US adults during 2010-2013. In 2013, more than one-third of current cigarette smokers reported having ever used e-cigarettes. Given the uncertain public health impact of e-cigarettes, continued surveillance of emerging use patterns is critical for public health planning.
Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco 2014. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.