In the United States, 12 years of age or older have been surveyed in this time frame and several questions have been addressed to establish a portrait of tobacco use in the US population covering:
- Tobacco use according to product type and use category,
- Tobacco use according to product type and demographic subgroup,
- Prevalence of multiple product and single product use,
The results show that use of multiple tobacco products is common for 40% of Americans, adults and youths alike. The combination of cigarettes plus e-cigarettes was the most popular situation among the 45,971 adult and youth participants (≥12 years of age).
In the previous 30 days:
- 27.6% of adults were current users of at least one type of tobacco product,
- 8.9% of youths (12-17 years old),
- 18.1 % of adults had smoked cigarettes,
- 4.6% of youths (12-17 years old),
- 8% of youths (15-17 years old),
- 5.5% of adults had used e-cigarettes,
- 3.1% of youths (12-17 years old),
- 5.3% of youths (15-17 years old).
Everyday use of a tobacco product:
- 19.7% of adults said they used at least one type of tobacco product every day,
- 1,6% of youths (12-17 years old),
- 16% of adults said they smoked cigarettes,
- 0,9% of youths (12-17 years old),
- 1,7% of youths (15-17 years old),
- 0,9% of adults said they used e-cigarettes,
- 0,2% of youths (12-17 years old),
- 0,3% of youths (15-17 years old).
How does this compare to national surveys?
The baseline estimates produced by the PATH study, a study designed as a cohort study, allow the researchers to compare their results with national surveys for the same period. An overall convergence was found for smoking prevalence. In contrast, higher prevalence (5.5%) was found here compared to the NAT survey (3.3%) that, according to the authors, could be attributed to the formulation of the questions.
Kasza, K. A., Ambrose, B. K., Conway, K. P., Borek, N., Taylor, K., Goniewicz, M. L., … & Kaufman, A. R. (2017). Tobacco-Product Use by Adults and Youths in the United States in 2013 and 2014. New England Journal of Medicine, 376(4), 342-353.
Read a description of the PATH study:
