Prevalence of Self-Reported E-Cigarette Use Among Youth Before and After the Introduction of the Federal “Tobacco 21” Law
Abstract
Introduction and Objective. In December 2019, the federal government signed legislation increasing the minimum legal sales age of tobacco products from 18 to 21. Previous literature has investigated the effects of state legislature and the prevalence of tobacco use in youth. E-cigarettes became available in the US in 2007. By 2014, e-cigarettes were the most used form of tobacco in the youth population. This study fills the gap in the literature by evaluating the association of e-cigarette use in youth and federal “Tobacco 21” policy. Our study aims to determine whether the implementation of federal “Tobacco 21” law is associated with decreased e-cigarette use in children ages 9-17. Methods. This is a cross-sectional study that used data from the CDC National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) in 2019 and 2022. Inclusion criteria were all children who took the survey ages 9 to 17 in 2019 or 2022. Exclusion criteria involve those who skipped questions QN9 or Q37 from the 2019 and 2022 surveys, respectively, as these were used to evaluate the outcome variable. The outcome variable was e-cigarette use within the past 30 days. Both the independent and outcome variables were dichotomous and were analyzed with linear regression. The odds ratio was calculated with a 95% confidence interval and p-value < 0.05 as statistically significant. Finally, both analyses were stratified by age, sex, ethnicity, race, living with someone who uses tobacco, speaking more than one language, and difficulty concentrating. Results. There were 16,120 participants included in our study. We found a statistically significant association between Tobacco 21 Law and e-cigarette use. Those who took the survey after the Tobacco 21 law (2022) had higher odds of e-cigarette use than those prior to this law (2019) (OR: 1.75, CI: 1.47-2.08). Additionally, ages 9-13 (OR: 0.7, CI: 0.57-0.84) and those who did not live with someone who used tobacco (OR: 0.7, CI: 0.61-0.79) both had decreased odds of e-cigarette use. There was no significant difference in sex, ethnicity, race, speaking more than one language, and difficulty concentrating. Conclusions-Implications. Our study demonstrated a strong association between the Tobacco 21 law and decreased e-cigarette use in youth populations. This is just the beginning of what will hopefully be further analyzed due to its recent implementation. Further research should be aimed at examining other factors and the effect on e-cigarette use.
Abstract Category
27. Public Health
Secondary Abstract Category
9. Epidemiology
Keywords
Tobacco 21 Law, e-cigarette, youth
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Prevalence of Self-Reported E-Cigarette Use Among Youth Before and After the Introduction of the Federal “Tobacco 21” Law
Introduction and Objective. In December 2019, the federal government signed legislation increasing the minimum legal sales age of tobacco products from 18 to 21. Previous literature has investigated the effects of state legislature and the prevalence of tobacco use in youth. E-cigarettes became available in the US in 2007. By 2014, e-cigarettes were the most used form of tobacco in the youth population. This study fills the gap in the literature by evaluating the association of e-cigarette use in youth and federal “Tobacco 21” policy. Our study aims to determine whether the implementation of federal “Tobacco 21” law is associated with decreased e-cigarette use in children ages 9-17. Methods. This is a cross-sectional study that used data from the CDC National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) in 2019 and 2022. Inclusion criteria were all children who took the survey ages 9 to 17 in 2019 or 2022. Exclusion criteria involve those who skipped questions QN9 or Q37 from the 2019 and 2022 surveys, respectively, as these were used to evaluate the outcome variable. The outcome variable was e-cigarette use within the past 30 days. Both the independent and outcome variables were dichotomous and were analyzed with linear regression. The odds ratio was calculated with a 95% confidence interval and p-value < 0.05 as statistically significant. Finally, both analyses were stratified by age, sex, ethnicity, race, living with someone who uses tobacco, speaking more than one language, and difficulty concentrating. Results. There were 16,120 participants included in our study. We found a statistically significant association between Tobacco 21 Law and e-cigarette use. Those who took the survey after the Tobacco 21 law (2022) had higher odds of e-cigarette use than those prior to this law (2019) (OR: 1.75, CI: 1.47-2.08). Additionally, ages 9-13 (OR: 0.7, CI: 0.57-0.84) and those who did not live with someone who used tobacco (OR: 0.7, CI: 0.61-0.79) both had decreased odds of e-cigarette use. There was no significant difference in sex, ethnicity, race, speaking more than one language, and difficulty concentrating. Conclusions-Implications. Our study demonstrated a strong association between the Tobacco 21 law and decreased e-cigarette use in youth populations. This is just the beginning of what will hopefully be further analyzed due to its recent implementation. Further research should be aimed at examining other factors and the effect on e-cigarette use.