CLEVELAND — NYTS is an annual school-based, self-administered survey of U.S. middle (grades 6–8) and high school (grades 9–12) students conducted Jan. 22 to May 22, 2024.
Findings showed there was a significant drop in the number of U.S. middle and high school students who reported current (past 30 days) e-cigarette use – a decrease from 2.13 million (7.7%) youth in 2023 to 1.63 million (5.9%) youth in 2024.
This decline was largely driven by reduced e-cigarette use among high schoolers (1.56 million to 1.21 million), with no statistically significant change in current e-cigarette use among middle school students within the past year.
The number of youth who used e-cigarettes in 2024 is approximately one-third of what it was at its peak in 2019, when over five million youth reported current e-cigarette use.
"While the results are promising, there's still much work to be done," Brian King, Ph.D., M.P.H., director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, told 3News Senior Health Correspondent Monica Robins.
Education and awareness programs are certainly working, but King also pointed to the crackdown in illegal sales and seizures of illegal product at U.S. borders.
Over the past year, a substantive drop occurred in youth reporting use of e-cigarette products under the Elf Bar brand - from 56.7% in 2023 to 36.1% in 2024.
Elf Bar is not authorized by the FDA and has been the subject of focused compliance and enforcement actions by the agency since early 2023, including more than 1,000 warning letters and 240 civil money penalties to retailers and others in the supply chain.
The FDA has also issued import alerts that include products under the Elf Bar brand, which places them on the “red list” and allows the agency to detain products without conducting a full inspection at the time of entry.
Among youth who currently used e-cigarettes, 26.3% reported using e-cigarettes daily. The vast majority of youth who currently used e-cigarettes used flavored products (87.6%), with fruit (62.8%), candy (33.3%) and mint (25.1%) being the top three most commonly used flavors.
Disposable e-cigarette products were the most common product type used; however, the most popular brands included both disposable and cartridge-based products. Among youth who currently used e-cigarettes, the most commonly reported brands were Elf Bar (36.1%), Breeze (19.9%), Mr. Fog (15.8%), Vuse (13.7%) and JUUL (12.6%).