Perceived harm from secondhand e-cigarette vapor showed similar patterns
FRIDAY, Feb. 9, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Greater perceived harm from e-cigarettes lessens the likelihood that teens will use them, according to a study published online Feb. 1 in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Preventing Chronic Disease.
Sarah D. Kowitt, M.P.H., from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues examined factors associated with e-cigarette use among 1,627 high school students participating in the 2015 North Carolina Youth Tobacco Survey.
The researchers found that greater perception of harm from e-cigarettes was associated with lower odds of susceptibility to using e-cigarettes (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.79) and current use of e-cigarettes (aOR, 0.43). Greater perceived harm of secondhand e-cigarette vapor yielded similar results. Susceptibility to using e-cigarettes was associated with exposure to e-cigarette vapor in indoor or outdoor public places (AOR, 1.96), as was current e-cigarette use (AOR, 5.69).
“To prevent initiation of e-cigarette use, particularly among adolescents not susceptible to smoking cigarettes, educational campaigns could target harm perceptions associated with e-cigarettes,” the authors write.
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