Tobacco Product Use Among Middle and High School Students—United States, 2011–2017

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June 8, 2018 / Vol. 67 / No. 22

 

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MMWR Introduction

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, and nearly all tobacco use begins during youth and young adulthood. Youth use of tobacco products in any form is unsafe. CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) analyzed data from the 2011–2017 National Youth Tobacco Surveys (NYTS) to determine patterns of current (past 30-day) use of seven tobacco product types among US middle (grades 6–8) and high (grades 9–12) school students: cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), hookahs (water pipes used to smoke tobacco), pipe tobacco, and bidis (small imported cigarettes wrapped in a leaf).

The sustained implementation of population-based strategies, in coordination with the regulation of tobacco products by FDA, are critical to reducing all forms of tobacco product use and initiation among US youth. Strategies to reduce youth tobacco product use include increasing the price of tobacco products, implementing comprehensive smoke-free policies, implementing advertising and promotion restrictions and national public education media campaigns, and raising the minimum age of purchase for tobacco products to 21 years.

MMWR Highlights

Current (past 30 day) tobacco product use among middle and high school students, 2011-2017

  • Among high school students, current use of any tobacco product decreased from 24.2% (3.69 million) in 2011 to 19.6% (2.95 million) in 2017.
  • Among middle school students, current use of any tobacco product decreased from 7.5% (0.87 million) in 2011 to 5.6% (0.67 million) in 2017.

Current (past 30 day) tobacco product use among high school students, 2017

  • Any tobacco product: 19.6%.
  • Any combustible tobacco product: 12.9%.
  • Two or more tobacco products: 9.2%.
  • E-cigarettes: 11.7 %.
  • Cigarettes: 7.6%.
  • Cigars: 7.7%.
  • Smokeless tobacco: 5.5%.
  • Hookah: 3.3%.
  • Pipe tobacco: 0.8%.
  • Bidis: 0.7%.

Current (past 30 day) tobacco product use among middle school students, 2017

  • Any tobacco product: 5.6%.
  • Any combustible tobacco product: 3.4%..
  • Two or more tobacco products: 2.4%.
  • E-cigarettes: 3.3%.
  • Cigarettes: 2.1%.
  • Cigars: 1.5%.
  • Smokeless tobacco: 1.9%.
  • Hookah: 1.4%.
  • Pipe tobacco: 0.4%.
  • Bidis: 0.3%.

 

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