Age at Initiation of Cigarette Use in a Nationally Representative Sample of US Youth, 2013-2017

Source:

Pérez A, N’hpang RS, Callahan E, et al. Age at Initiation of Cigarette Use in a Nationally Representative Sample of US Youth, 2013-2017. JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(2):e210218. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.0218

Key Points

Question  At what age do youth (aged 12-17 years) initiate 4 cigarette use outcomes (susceptibility to use, ever use, past 30-day use, and fairly regular use)?

Findings  This cohort study examined nationally representative data for 15 776 youth never users and, among them, 11 022 youth who were nonsusceptible to cigarette use, and found that among youth who were nonsusceptible to cigarette use, by age 18 years, 46.2% became susceptible to cigarette use. Among never users of cigarettes, 24.4% initiated ever cigarette use, 16.4% initiated past 30-day cigarette use, and 4.3% initiated fairly regular cigarette use.

Meaning  Study results suggest that prevention interventions and educating the public about targeting specific ages, particularly before age 17 to 18 years, may reduce cigarette use initiation.