Prevalence of E-Cigarette Use and Its Associated Factors Among Youths Aged 12 to 16 Years in 68 Countries and Territories: Global Youth Tobacco Survey, 2012‒2019.

Abstract

<b>Objectives.</b> To describe the recent global prevalence of e-cigarette use and to investigate its associated factors among youths aged 12 to 16 years in 68 countries and territories (hereafter "countries"). <b>Methods.</b> We analyzed 485 746 youths aged 12 to 16 years from the population-based cross-sectional Global Youth Tobacco Survey conducted in 67 countries between 2012 and 2019 and the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey in the United States. We defined past-30-day e-cigarette use as using e-cigarettes on 1 or more days during the past 30 days. <b>Results.</b> The global prevalence of past-30-day e-cigarette use among youths was 9.2%, ranging from 1.9% in Kazakhstan to 33.2% in Guam. Maternal smoking (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.40; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.29, 1.52), paternal smoking (AOR = 1.13; 95% CI = 1.07, 1.19), secondhand smoke exposure (AOR = 1.74; 95% CI = 1.64, 1.84), youth cigarette smoking (AOR = 7.18; 95% CI = 6.84, 7.54), and youth other tobacco use (AOR = 3.88; 95% CI = 3.62, 4.15) were positively associated with e-cigarette use. <b>Conclusions.</b> E-cigarette use was moderately frequent among youths aged 12 to 16 years globally. Several important factors were associated with youth e-cigarette use. <b>Public Health Implications.</b> Our findings highlight the need for countries worldwide to develop policies to address e-cigarette use among youths. (<i>Am J Public Health.</i> 2022;112(4):650-661. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306686).