Study: Teen Vaping Levels Remain High Despite Surge Leveling Off

Results released today from the most recent Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey of substance use behaviors and related attitudes among teens in the United States indicate that levels of nicotine and marijuana vaping did not increase from 2019 to early 2020, although they remain high. The survey was conducted by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, Ann Arbor, part of the National Institutes of Health.

Since the survey on nicotine and marijuana vaping began 4 years ago, use of these substances among teens have increased to markedly high levels. From 2017 to 2019, the percentage of teenagers who said they vaped nicotine in the past 12 months roughly doubled for 8th graders, from 7.5% to 16.5%, for 10th graders, from 15.8% to 30.7%, and for 12th graders, from 18.8% to 35.3%. In 2020, the rates held steady at a respective 16.6%, 30.7%, and 34.5%, respectively. However, daily or near daily use—defined as 20 occasions in the past 30 days—nicotine vaping declined among 10th and 12th graders from 2019 to 2020, by close to half: from 6.8% to 3.6% in 10th grade, and from 11.6% to 5.3% in 12th grade.

“The rapid rise of teen nicotine vaping in recent years has been unprecedented and deeply concerning since we know that nicotine is highly addictive and can be delivered at high doses by vaping devices, which may also contain other toxic chemicals that may be harmful when inhaled,” said NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow, MD in a prepared statement. “It is encouraging to see a leveling off of this trend though the rates still remain very high.”

The past-year vaping of marijuana also remained steady in 2020, with 8.1% of 8th graders, 19.1%, of 10th graders, and 22.1% of 12th graders reporting past-year use, following a 2-fold increase over the past 2 years. Further, daily marijuana vaping significantly decreased by more than half from 2019, to 1.1% among 10th graders, and 1.5% among 12th graders in 2020.

The MTF survey results also found that reported use of JUUL vaping devices, or e-cigarettes, which contain nicotine and were previously the most popular brand among teens, significantly decreased from 2019 to 2020 among the older 2 grades. In 10th graders, past 12-month use of JUUL vaping devices decreased from 28.7% in 2019 to 20% in 2020, and in 12th graders, it decreased from 28.4% in 2019 to 22.7% in 2020.

The MTF survey is given annually to students in 8th, 10th, and 12th grade who self-report their substance use behaviors over various prevalence periods: daily, past 30 days, past 12 months and lifetime. The survey also details the student’s perception of harm, disapproval of use, and perceived availability of drugs, and the results are released the same year the data are collected.

From February 11, 2020 through March 14, 2020, the MTF survey investigators collected 11,821 surveys in 112 schools before data collection stopped prematurely due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The completed surveys from early 2020 represent about 25% of the sample size of a typical year’s data collection, but the results were gathered from a broad geographic and representative sample, so the data were statistically weighted to provide national numbers.

Estimated data from the MTF study may differ from other government surveys due to differences in study population, questionnaire language, and other factors. Additionally, study investigators are working with schools to deploy the survey in early 2021 to gather data that will reflect substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic and related periods of social distancing.

The MTF researchers also conducted an in-depth analysis of a subset of the 2020 MTF data, combining 10th and 12th graders into a sample of 8660 high schoolers. The percentage of combined 10th and 12th graders who said they vaped nicotine in the past 30 days, past 12 months, or over the course of their lifetime were similar from 2019 to 2020, at 22%, 32%, and 41% respectively.

Similarly, in this group, daily, or near daily, nicotine vaping declined from 9% to 7% from 2019 to 2020. The researchers concluded nicotine vaping for participants in these 2 grades remained steady despite decreases in use of previously popular brands like JUUL due to teens moving to the use of other vaping device brands, such as disposable, single use vaping devices. Other data on trends in vaping brands used, perceived availability of vaping devices, and perceived risk of vaping from this subset of teens were published today in the same study.

REFERENCE

Study finds surge of teen vaping levels off, but remains high in early 2020 [press release]. Bethesda, MD; December 15, 2020; NIH. Accessed December 16, 2020. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/study-finds-surge-teen-vaping-levels-remains-high-early-2020