Follow-up of adolescent electronic cigarette use in Finland: Jaana Kinnunen

Background

Use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) is increasing at alarming pace among youth. These products may contain nicotine and toxic chemicals. Longitudinal studies following adolescent e-cigarette use are scarce. We present preliminary results on adolescent e-cigarette use from the age of 16 to the age of 18 according to the type of liquid (nicotine/non-nicotine) used in them.

Methods

3,474 adolescents answered a school Health Survey in the Helsinki metropolitan area in 2014 and 2016. Non-nicotine and nicotine containing e-cigarettes were asked separately. Here, nicotine e-cigarette use includes those reporting nicotine/both types of liquids. Non-nicotine e-cigarette use includes those reporting only non-nicotine liquids.

Results

At the baseline, 24.9% had experimented nicotine containing and 4.5% non-nicotine e-cigarettes. In the follow up, 2.1% used e-cigarettes daily/almost daily. Of the experimenters with nicotine e-cigarettes 6.1% used them daily/almost daily, but 3.3% of the experimenters with non-nicotine e-cigarettes and 0.6% of those who had not tried e-cigarettes at the baseline (p < 0.001). Of those who had not tried e-cigarettes at the baseline, 18.4% tried nicotine containing and 5.7% non-nicotine e-cigarettes during the follow-up. Those who had not tried conventional cigarettes at the baseline were divided into three groups according to e-cigarette experiment: nicotine e-cigarettes (n = 103), only non-nicotine e-cigarettes (n = 65), not tried (n = 1820). The proportions of daily conventional cigarette smokers were correspondingly 8.7%, 1.5% and 0.8% (p < 0.001) in the follow up.

Conclusions

Experimenting e-cigarettes is common among youth but daily use is rare. E-cigarette experimentation with nicotine containing liquids leads to daily conventional cigarette smoking more often than experimentation with non-nicotine products or having no experimentation. Youth’s access to e-cigarettes should be limited by legislation and thus prevent nicotine addiction.

Key messages:

• Experimentation with nicotine-containing e-cigarettes will more probably lead to daily e-cigarette use than experimentation of non-nicotine e-cigarettes or not experimenting with e-cigarettes.

• Among never-smoking adolescents, e-cigarette experimentation may lead to conventional cigarette smoking.