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Study Inaccurately Claims Teen Smoking Rates Have Not Dropped Over The Past Two Decades

A recent Lancet study said smoking rates among 13-15-year-olds have remain unchanged in 40% of the surveyed countries between 1999 and 2018. However, these said “smoking rates” inaccurately include the use of safer alternatives such as smokeless tobacco products and e-cigarettes, which should not be considered as smoking.

Diane Caruana

June 22, 2021

Meanwhile, countless health entities such as Public Health England (PHE) promote such alternative products as smoking cessation and/or harm reduction tools.

The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health journal study, found differing rates of tobacco use across 140 countries. Lead Study author Professor Bo Xi, said there are “still large numbers of young people smoking” despite the decreasing smoking rates in the majority of countries. However to the shock of tobacco harm reduction experts, among these alleged high numbers of smokers, the Professor inaccurately included users of safer alternative products.

“The fact that in many countries the prevalence of using non-cigarette tobacco products is higher than, or as high as, the prevalence of cigarette use shows us there is still a lot of work to do,” he said. “The need to strengthen tobacco control efforts, which include specific policies for different tobacco products and a focus on health education for adolescents globally is more important than ever.”

Safer nicotine alternatives are part of the solution

Meanwhile, countless health entities such as Public Health England (PHE) promote such alternative products as smoking cessation and/or harm reduction tools. In fact a number of studies have pointed out that in countries where vaping rates have increased, smoking rates have decreased, while vaping rates seem to decreasing aswell.

A 2020 US survey indicated that only 20% of high school students and 5% of middle school students have reported recently using e-cigs. This is a significant drop in comparison to the 28% and 11% reported in 2019, with the percentages suggested to equate to a drop of 1.8 million, from 5.4 million to 3.6 million.

Last year a US national age limit of 21 was set in place, while many states and localities set in place flavour bans and other restrictions. The CDC’s Brian King said that vape sales seem to have started dropping in August. “It’s possible that some of the heightened awareness could have influenced decline in use,” said King.