Vaping and smoking in adolescents 14 and under in Aotearoa New Zealand: cross-sectional study of e-screening data.

Abstract

Introduction YouthCHAT (Youth electronic Case-Finding and Help Assessment Tool) assesses lifestyle issues in young people in New Zealand (NZ) primary care settings, including questions on smoking and vaping. Aim This study aimed to assess adolescent vaping/smoking rates, reasons, and interest in help. Methods An analysis of a de-identified extract of adolescent smoking and vaping YouthCHAT responses with chi-squared testing of independence of reporting ever-smoking and ever-vaping was performed. Gender and gender-by-ethnicity differences were tested by chi-squared test for females versus males and Māori and Pacific versus NZ European. Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons was applied by multiplying P -values by 10. Follow-up responses, including help questions, were tallied. Results Of 3462 completed YouthCHAT screens of adolescents aged ≤14 years, 753 (22%) reported ever-vaping and 427 (12%) ever-smoking (P P =0.001; 0.003, respectively). The rate of having ever-vaped and of vaping-never-smoked was higher in Māori (adjusted P P =0.005 for vaping; 0.001 for vaping-never-smoked) girls compared to NZ Europeans. For ever-vaped, 511 (68%) had felt the need to cut down. Of those who vaped in the past 3months, 120/558 (22%) wanted help. Discussion Vaping is more frequent than smoking among young NZ adolescents under 15years of age but many are open to receiving help. Relatively few adolescents are vaping to stop smoking. Tight controls of vaping products are needed to prevent e-cigarette marketing from attracting non-smoking adolescents, while ensuring access for those who wish to quit smoking.