Abstract
Objectives: Profiling the Scottish adolescent e-cigarette user
Study design: 283 state, independent and grant maintained schools participated in the Scottish Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS) between September 2013 and 2014. 33,685 13 and 15-year-old pupils who had completed the cross-sectional survey SALSUS questionnaire, and answered the question based on e-cigarette use were included in the analysis. Profiling of the typical Scottish adolescent e-cigarette user through gender, age, socioeconomic status, urban/rural location, weekly alcohol consumption, current drug use and current tobacco smoking was the main outcome measured.
Results: 1.1% of adolescents were current e-cigarette users with 11% having tried the devices before. Current e-cigarette users were significantly more likely to be male (OR=1.9; CI= 1.5-1.9), rural (OR= 1.4; CI=1.1-1.9), smoke tobacco (OR=21.1; CI=15.3-29.1), weekly alcohol (OR=1.4; CI=1.1-1.9) and current drug users (OR=2.3; CI=1.7-3.0). There were no significance differences observed for socioeconomic status. Similar results were observed for those using both and those who only used e-cigarettes. Only tobacco smokers differed in that they were significantly more likely to be female than male (OR=0.56; CI=0.51-0.63) and of a lower socioeconomic status (OR=1.3; CI=1.1-1.4).
Conclusions: The Scottish adolescent e-cigarette user is male, lives rurally, a weekly alcohol drinker, a current drug user and a tobacco smoker. This profiling study helps to inform policy makers targeting e-cigarette use. Further research requires a longitudinal study and monitoring the changing views of this group.
Study design: 283 state, independent and grant maintained schools participated in the Scottish Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS) between September 2013 and 2014. 33,685 13 and 15-year-old pupils who had completed the cross-sectional survey SALSUS questionnaire, and answered the question based on e-cigarette use were included in the analysis. Profiling of the typical Scottish adolescent e-cigarette user through gender, age, socioeconomic status, urban/rural location, weekly alcohol consumption, current drug use and current tobacco smoking was the main outcome measured.
Results: 1.1% of adolescents were current e-cigarette users with 11% having tried the devices before. Current e-cigarette users were significantly more likely to be male (OR=1.9; CI= 1.5-1.9), rural (OR= 1.4; CI=1.1-1.9), smoke tobacco (OR=21.1; CI=15.3-29.1), weekly alcohol (OR=1.4; CI=1.1-1.9) and current drug users (OR=2.3; CI=1.7-3.0). There were no significance differences observed for socioeconomic status. Similar results were observed for those using both and those who only used e-cigarettes. Only tobacco smokers differed in that they were significantly more likely to be female than male (OR=0.56; CI=0.51-0.63) and of a lower socioeconomic status (OR=1.3; CI=1.1-1.4).
Conclusions: The Scottish adolescent e-cigarette user is male, lives rurally, a weekly alcohol drinker, a current drug user and a tobacco smoker. This profiling study helps to inform policy makers targeting e-cigarette use. Further research requires a longitudinal study and monitoring the changing views of this group.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 69-71 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Public Health |
Volume | 147 |
Early online date | 28 Mar 2017 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jun 2017 |
Keywords
- E-cigarette
- Scottish
- Adolescent
- Profile
- Public health