TOPLINE:
Nicotine pouch use among 10th- and 12th-grade US students doubled from 2023 to 2024, with past-30-day use increasing from 1.3% to 2.6%, whereas past-12-month use of electronic cigarette use showed a decline from 20.0% to 17.6%.
METHODOLOGY:
- A cross-sectional analysis utilized data from annual surveys conducted in school with a nationally representative sample of 10,146 students in 10th and 12th grades during 2023 and 2024 as part of the Monitoring the Future Study.
- Participants self-reported demographic information including sex, race, ethnicity, college plans, and population density.
- Primary outcome measures included lifetime, past-12-month, and past-30-day self-reported nicotine pouch and e-cigarette use, along with co-use patterns.
TAKEAWAY:
- Nicotine pouch use increased significantly from 2023 to 2024, with past-30-day use rising from 1.3% to 2.6% (95% CI, 0.8%-1.8%; risk ratio, 2.05; 95% CI, 1.9%-3.4%).
- e-Cigarette use showed no significant changes in lifetime and past-30-day use, though past-12-month use decreased from 20.0% (95% CI, 18.1%-22.0%) to 17.6% (95% CI, 15.7%-19.7%).
- Demographic analysis revealed higher nicotine pouch use among men, rural residents, and non-Hispanic White youths, while women reported higher e-cigarette use.
- Both nicotine pouch and e-cigarette use were more prevalent among 12th grade students than among 10th graders and those without 4-year college plans.
IN PRACTICE:
“Expanding regulatory protections, public health campaigns, clinical assessment, surveillance, and prevention programs addressing youth nicotine pouch use warrant consideration to improve pediatric population health,” wrote the authors of the study.
SOURCE:
The study was led by Adam M. Leventhal, PhD, Institute for Addiction Science, University of Southern California in Los Angeles. It was published online in JAMA Network Open.
LIMITATIONS:
Researchers acknowledged potential recall and measurement errors in the data collection. The study’s sample size limitations prevented precise estimation of nicotine pouch use in some demographic subgroups. Results may not be fully generalizable to all adolescents as the sample comprised only 10th and 12th grade students in school during data collection.
DISCLOSURES:
The study was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute, Food and Drug Administration, and National Institute on Drug Abuse. The funders had no role in the design, conduct, analysis, interpretation, preparation, review, approval, or submission of the study.
This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.