In recent years, use of e-cigarettes, particularly JUUL products, have gained popularity among young adult and adult populations. A recent study used a convenience sample to investigate JUUL use patterns, reasons for use, and other tobacco use.
This study included adults who had reported using JUUL and who enrolled in a study titled “E-cigarette use patterns” on Amazon Mechanical Turk. The sample included over 900 U.S. adults. Among the sample, 59.5% had reported use only once or twice, 29.2% reported regular use, and 10.3% reported daily use. Daily users reported using around 10 JUUL pods per month and using 4-9 times per day. As far as use of other products, 26% of the sample reported exclusively using JUUL while 56% reported using JUUL along with other e-cigarettes. 37.1% of the cohort reported being former smokers, and this group was not more likely to be daily users compared to those who had not smoked previously. Overall, this study suggests that around 40% of those who had ever tried JUUL are regular or daily users.
The most common reasons for using JUUL were because friends were doing it, curiosity, and similarity to cigarettes.
Since JUUL is the most popular e-cigarette product on the market and is marketed towards young adults, more research is needed on the patterns of use and outcomes of use.
Take Away: Around 40% of those who had ever tried JUUL are regular or daily users. The most common reasons that participants used JUUL were because they had seen their friends doing it, they were curious, and it is similar to a cigarette for those who were trying to quit smoking.
Leavens, E.S., Stevens, E.M., Brett, E.I., Hebert, E.T., Villanti, A.C., et al. (2019). JUUL electronic cigarette use patterns, other tobacco product use, and reasons for use among ever users: Results from a convenience sample. Addictive Behaviors. doi.org/10.016/j.addbeh.2019.02.011