Canada: Young vapers have more than doubled in two years

A study[1] measuring youth vaping trends in Canada was published May 4, 2020 in the Journal of the American Medical Association - Pediatrics (JAMA Pediatrics). The study was led by Professor David Hammond of the University of Waterloo[2]The main lessons of this study are:

• The increase in vaping among youth aged 16 to 19 in Canada: the proportion of vapers in this age group more than doubled over a two-year period, from 2017 to 2019. Vaping among youth increased from 8.4% in 2017 to 17.8% in 2019, an increase of 1,12%.

There also appears to be an increase in frequency among these young vapers.

• This increase in vaping among young people is linked to the entry of tobacco manufacturers into the Canadian market, following the legalization of electronic cigarettes with nicotine in May 2018.
• This resulted in the adoption by the federal government and the various provinces of a whole series of measures aimed at reducing this consumption. [3].
• The study also measured trends in e-cigarette use among youth in the United States.[4] and in England. There is also a very significant increase in the United States with a prevalence increasing from 11.1% in 2017 to 18.5% in 2019. The increase recorded in England is relatively lower, from 8.7% in 2017 to 12.6% in 2019, but it is not negligible. This lesser change is probably explained by the fact that England has introduced greater restrictions on advertising for e-cigarettes than Canada or the United States. In addition, England has transposed one of the European Union directives on tobacco products which provides for a maximum nicotine concentration of 20 mg / ml. Such a measure does not exist in Canada or the United States. Some nicotine levels in Juul, Vype and Logic e-cigarette products in Canada are 59 mg/ml, or 57 mg/ml, almost triple the maximum allowed in the EU.[5].

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[1] The figures given in the notes above for youth vaping prevalence are for the past 30 days, which is more commonly used for youth smoking prevalence. [2] David Hammond, Vicki L. Rynard, Jessica L. Reid “Changes in Prevalence of Vaping Among Youths in the United States, Canada, and England from 2017 to 2019” JAMA Pediatrics, ppublished online May 4, 2020. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.0901 [3] https://www.generationsanstabac.org/actualites/durcissement-legislation-vapotage-canadav/ [4] https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/surgeon-general-advisory/index.html [5] https://www.economie.gouv.fr/dgccrf/Publications/Vie-pratique/Fiches-pratiques/cigarette-electronique