Frequency of Use Among Middle and High School Student Tobacco Product Users— United States, 2015–2017

December 14, 2018 / Vol. 67 / No. 49

MMWR Introduction

Monitoring the frequency of using tobacco products, including the use of multiple products, is important for informing strategies to prevent and reduce youth tobacco product use. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and CDC analyzed combined data from the 2015–2017 National Youth Tobacco Surveys (NYTS) to determine past 30-day (current) frequency of use of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, and hookah among U.S. high school and middle school students.

Regulation of tobacco products, along with implementing proven tobacco control and prevention strategies, can reduce the initiation and use of tobacco products among youths. Strategies to reduce youth tobacco product use include increasing the price of tobacco products, 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

Frequency of use, 2015–2017

• The frequency of tobacco product use among youths varied by product type and school level.
• For all assessed products, most current users reported using each product for 1–5 of the past 30 days.

Frequent use (≥20 of the past 30 days), by individual tobacco product type, 2015–2017 combined

• High School
  • Smokeless tobacco: 38.7% (260,000 students).
  • Cigarettes: 28.4% (330,000 students).
  • E-cigarettes: 17.4% (330,000 students).
  • Hookah (2016–2017 only): 16.7% (60,000 students).
  • Cigars: 14.0% (160,000 students).
• Middle School
  • Hookah (2016–2017 only): 24.5% (20,000 students).
  • Smokeless tobacco: 21.5% (30,000 students).
  • Cigarettes: 17.5% (40,000 students).
  • Cigars: 13.2% (20,000 students).
  • E-cigarettes: 13.1% (60,000 students).