Katherine A Moran, Philip E Rosenbaum, Christina Meyers, Monica Cornelius, Margaret Mahoney, Michael Sawdey, Samantha N Cwalina, Livia Navon
{"title":"Menthol Tobacco Product Use Among US Middle and High School Students, National Youth Tobacco Survey, 2023-2024.","authors":"Katherine A Moran, Philip E Rosenbaum, Christina Meyers, Monica Cornelius, Margaret Mahoney, Michael Sawdey, Samantha N Cwalina, Livia Navon","doi":"10.5888/pcd23.250427","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Most tobacco use begins during adolescence. We used National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) data from 2023 and 2024 to examine menthol tobacco product use among US middle and high school students.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We used pooled data from the 2023 and 2024 NYTS (n = 51,930) to calculate nationally representative prevalence estimates for past 30-day menthol and nonmenthol tobacco product use, stratified by sociodemographic and mental health indicators. We used χ<sup>2</sup> tests with Benjamini-Hochberg adjustments to compare behaviors.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>During 2023 and 2024, 22.1% of students who currently used tobacco (representing 520,000 students) used menthol products. Overall, menthol products were used by 40.0% of students who smoked cigarettes, 18.0% who used e-cigarettes, and 11.5% who smoked cigars. Menthol tobacco use was significantly higher among males (vs females) (26.1% vs 18.3%), high schoolers (vs middle schoolers) (23.9% vs 17.0%), and those with moderate to severe anxiety or depression (vs no or mild symptoms) (25.0% vs 18.8%). By race and ethnicity, use ranged from 12.0% (non-Hispanic Black) to 28.6% (non-Hispanic multiracial). Compared with students who used nonmenthol products, a higher proportion of those who used menthol cigarettes or e-cigarettes reported younger age at first use of tobacco (<11 y) (42.5% vs 26.8% and 19.9% vs 13.2%, respectively), use on 20 to 30 of the past 30 days (38.2% vs 20.2% and 53.4% vs 33.2%, respectively), and fewer past-year smoking quit attempts (49.7% vs 63.2%, respectively).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>More than 500,000 US middle and high school students used menthol products; prevalence varied by sociodemographic and mental health indicators. Menthol tobacco use correlates with earlier initiation, higher frequency of use, and reduced past-year quit attempts. Additional efforts to reduce access to menthol products among young people may reduce tobacco use in this population.</p>","PeriodicalId":51273,"journal":{"name":"Preventing Chronic Disease","volume":"23 ","pages":"E31"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6000,"publicationDate":"2026-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13450101/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Preventing Chronic Disease","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5888/pcd23.250427","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction: Most tobacco use begins during adolescence. We used National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) data from 2023 and 2024 to examine menthol tobacco product use among US middle and high school students.
Methods: We used pooled data from the 2023 and 2024 NYTS (n = 51,930) to calculate nationally representative prevalence estimates for past 30-day menthol and nonmenthol tobacco product use, stratified by sociodemographic and mental health indicators. We used χ2 tests with Benjamini-Hochberg adjustments to compare behaviors.
Results: During 2023 and 2024, 22.1% of students who currently used tobacco (representing 520,000 students) used menthol products. Overall, menthol products were used by 40.0% of students who smoked cigarettes, 18.0% who used e-cigarettes, and 11.5% who smoked cigars. Menthol tobacco use was significantly higher among males (vs females) (26.1% vs 18.3%), high schoolers (vs middle schoolers) (23.9% vs 17.0%), and those with moderate to severe anxiety or depression (vs no or mild symptoms) (25.0% vs 18.8%). By race and ethnicity, use ranged from 12.0% (non-Hispanic Black) to 28.6% (non-Hispanic multiracial). Compared with students who used nonmenthol products, a higher proportion of those who used menthol cigarettes or e-cigarettes reported younger age at first use of tobacco (<11 y) (42.5% vs 26.8% and 19.9% vs 13.2%, respectively), use on 20 to 30 of the past 30 days (38.2% vs 20.2% and 53.4% vs 33.2%, respectively), and fewer past-year smoking quit attempts (49.7% vs 63.2%, respectively).
Conclusion: More than 500,000 US middle and high school students used menthol products; prevalence varied by sociodemographic and mental health indicators. Menthol tobacco use correlates with earlier initiation, higher frequency of use, and reduced past-year quit attempts. Additional efforts to reduce access to menthol products among young people may reduce tobacco use in this population.
期刊介绍:
Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD) is a peer-reviewed electronic journal established by the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. The mission of PCD is to promote the open exchange of information and knowledge among researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and others who strive to improve the health of the public through chronic disease prevention. The vision of PCD is to be the premier forum where practitioners and policy makers inform research and researchers help practitioners and policy makers more effectively improve the health of the population. Articles focus on preventing and controlling chronic diseases and conditions, promoting health, and examining the biological, behavioral, physical, and social determinants of health and their impact on quality of life, morbidity, and mortality across the life span.