E-Cigarette Device Types Used by Middle School Students and High School Students-The U.S., 2019

The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of e-cigarette device types used most often among youth currently using e-cigarettes in a nationally representative survey.

Data from the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey were used to estimate the proportion of middle school and high school e-cigarette users using different e-cigarette device types. Unadjusted logistic regression was used to test for differences in demographic characteristics and tobacco use patterns by device type (n = 3,608).

The device types most often used by students were e-cigarettes with prefilled pods/cartridges (54.0%) and refillable tanks (24.3%), then mod systems (10.1%), unknown device types (8.9%), and disposable e-cigarettes (2.6%). Differences were observed between the use of closed (prefilled pods/cartridges, disposables) and open (tanks, mods) device types for noncigarette combusted tobacco product use, age first tried an e-cigarette, exclusive e-cigarette use, and use of flavors.

Most students used closed device types most often, especially e-cigarettes with prefilled pods/cartridges. The use of flavors and some tobacco use patterns differed by device type.