Altria Client Services LLC, 601 E. Jackson, Richmond, VA, 23219, USA.
BMC Public Health. 2023 Apr 7;23(1):662. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-15610-1.
Tobacco use among underage individuals is a public health concern. Timely data about tobacco products, especially emerging products such as novel oral nicotine products (NPs), can provide critical information for the prevention of underage tobacco use. With a recent federal law raising the legal age of purchase of tobacco products from 18 to 21, it is of interest to benchmark awareness and use of tobacco products in the new underage population, young adults 18-20 years old. This study provides estimates on awareness and use of tobacco products among underage individuals 13-20 years old during May 2020 to August 2022 in the United States.
Altria Client Services Underage Tobacco Use Survey (UTUS) is a repeated cross-sectional survey conducted every quarter-year. A stratified random sampling approach was used to draw nationally representative samples of household dwelling individuals 13-20 years old. Information about the awareness and use of tobacco products was obtained via online self-administration or phone interviews after a consent/assent process.
A sizable portion of underage individuals were aware of NPs (~ 40% among youth and ~ 50% among underage young adults), although past 30-day use was low (< 2%). The lowest levels of awareness and use were observed for heated tobacco products and snus. E-cigarettes were the most used tobacco products among underage individuals. Underage young adults (i.e., 18-20 year olds) were more likely to use tobacco products than youth (i.e., 13-17 year olds). There was no substantial change over time in the awareness and use of tobacco products during the study period despite a slight increase in past 30-day prevalence of e-cigarette use among youth between quarter 1 of 2021 and quarter 2 of 2022.
The awareness and use of tobacco products remained relatively stable between May 2020 and August 2022. There is a notable level of awareness of novel NPs among underage individuals.
未成年人吸烟是一个公共卫生问题。及时了解烟草产品的信息，尤其是新型口腔尼古丁产品（NPs）等新兴产品，可为预防未成年人使用烟草提供重要信息。随着最近联邦法律将购买烟草产品的法定年龄从 18 岁提高到 21 岁，了解新的未成年人群体（18-20 岁的年轻人）对烟草产品的认知和使用情况很有必要。本研究提供了 2020 年 5 月至 2022 年 8 月期间美国 13-20 岁未成年人对烟草产品认知和使用情况的估计。
奥驰亚客户服务未成年人烟草使用调查（UTUS）是一项每季度进行的重复横断面调查。采用分层随机抽样方法，对居住在家庭中的 13-20 岁的个体进行全国代表性抽样。通过同意/同意程序后，通过在线自我管理或电话访谈获取有关烟草产品认知和使用的信息。
相当一部分未成年人知晓 NPs（在青少年中约有 40%，在未成年年轻人中约有 50%），尽管过去 30 天的使用率较低（<2%）。对加热烟草制品和鼻烟的认知和使用率最低。电子烟是未成年人最常使用的烟草产品。未成年年轻人（即 18-20 岁）比青少年（即 13-17 岁）更有可能使用烟草产品。尽管在 2021 年第一季度至 2022 年第二季度期间，青少年过去 30 天电子烟使用率略有上升，但在研究期间，烟草产品的认知和使用并未出现实质性变化。
2020 年 5 月至 2022 年 8 月期间，烟草产品的认知和使用相对稳定。未成年人对新型 NPs 的认知程度较高。
