Polytobacco use among a nationally-representative sample of black high school students

Studies of the patterns of polytobacco use have increased. However, understanding the patterns of using multiple tobacco products among Black adolescents is minimal. This study identified the patterns of polytobacco use among U.S. Black adolescents.

Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify patterns of adolescent polytobacco use among a representative sample of Black youth from the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (n = 2782). Ever and recent (past 30 day) use of cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, cigars, and dip or chewing tobacco were used as latent class indicators. Multinomial regression was conducted to identify the association if smoking adjusting for sex, age, grade, and marijuana use.

Most students were in the 9th grade (29%), e-cigarette users (21%) and were current marijuana users (25%). Three profiles of tobacco use were identified: Class 1: Non-smokers (81%), Class 2: E-cigarette Users (14%), and Class 3: Polytobacco Users (5%). Black adolescent Polytobacco users were the smallest class, but had the highest conditional probabilities of recent cigarette use, e-cigarette use, ever smoking cigars or chewing tobacco. Ever and current use of marijuana were associated with increased odds of being in the e-cigarette user versus non-smoker group, and current marijuana use was associated with increased odds of polytobacco use (aOR = 24.61, CI = 6.95-87.11).

Findings suggests the need for targeted interventions for reducing tobacco use and examining the unique effects of polytobacco use on Black adolescents. Findings confirm a significant association of marijuana use with tobacco use.