How to define e-cigarette prevalence? Finding clues in the use frequency distribution.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Tobacco Control
• Epidemiology

Background:

• E-cigarette use has surged, leading to varied prevalence measures.
• Inconsistent definitions hinder cross-study comparisons of vaping behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze adult e-cigarette use patterns based on frequency (days in past 30).
• To evaluate different definitions of current e-cigarette use for public health surveillance.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the 2014 Minnesota Adult Tobacco Survey (n=9304).
• Assessed e-cigarette use frequency, reasons for use, and smoking status.
• Compared definitions of current e-cigarette use.

Main Results:

• Infrequent use (≤5 days/month) characterized a significant portion of users.
• Infrequent users were common among current (59%) and never smokers (89.5%).
• Curiosity was a more common reason for infrequent use than quitting other tobacco products.

Conclusions:

• Defining prevalence by any past 30-day e-cigarette use may overcount transient experimenters.
• A threshold of >5 days of use might better capture sustained vaping for surveillance.
• Current definitions of e-cigarette prevalence lack utility for tracking public health trends accurately.