As traditional forms of smoking have generally lost popularity, the use of electronic inhalation systems has grown in prevalence, especially in young adult demographics. The use of vaporized tobacco has increased due to reasons related to palatability and lack of perceived harm. Additionally, as cannabis use continues to increase across the United States, the substance has been prepared more often in vaporized formulations, providing consumers with greater convenience despite having no established safety. The growing literature suggests that vaping is in fact dangerous, and the understudied chemical cocktails within the products may produce a remarkable amount of respiratory toxins. This study aims to identify vaping prevalence rates, both of nicotine and cannabis, in a population of college students.
The study’s sample is composed of 339 undergraduate students from a large university in the United States (n=339, 70.1% female). Participants completed surveys which assessed the following variables: demographics, lifetime use of vaping products (including both nicotine and cannabis containing products), past-30 day use of vaping products, attitudes towards vaping practices, vaping health perceptions, and general vaping motives. Questions were formulated similarly to those within the National Youth Tobacco Surveys occurring from 2015 to 2019. The data was analyzed using univariable Poisson regression models and multinomial regression models.
Results of the analysis found that almost half of the sample reported using nicotine-based vaping products at least once, and about a quarter reported using them in the past 30 days (47.1% and 23.9%, respectively). In the subset of prior-month users, half the participants endorse using their products once per day (49.1%), while the remainder use them a few times to many times per day. 48.9% of prior-month users also reported vaping multiple substances, with cannabis being the most common substance following nicotine.
Takeaway: vaping is considered prevalent among college students, and this study found that nearly a quarter of undergraduates report past-30-day vaping practices which may include multiple substances.