Flavored Nontobacco Oral Nicotine Products Widely Used by Teens

THURSDAY, Aug. 11, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Flavored nontobacco oral nicotine products are the second most widely used nicotine product type among adolescents, according to a study published online Aug. 8 in Pediatrics.

Alyssa F. Harlow, Ph.D., from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and colleagues calculated the prevalence of ever and past six-month use of nicotine pouches, other nontobacco oral nicotine products, electronic cigarettes, cigarettes, hookah or waterpipe, cigars, cigarillos, and snus among 3,516 high school students between September and December 2021.

The researchers found that the prevalence was highest for e-cigarettes (ever: 9.6 percent; past six months: 5.5 percent) and nontobacco oral nicotine products (ever: 3.4 percent; past six months: 1.7 percent), and it was <1 percent for other products. The odds of ever using nontobacco oral nicotine products were increased for ever users of combustible tobacco and ever users of noncombustible tobacco (adjusted odds ratios, 77.6 and 40.4, respectively) compared with never users of combustible and noncombustible tobacco. Hispanic (versus other races/ethnicities except Asian), sexual minority versus heterosexual, gender minority versus male, and female versus male participants had increased use of any nontobacco oral nicotine product (adjusted odds ratios, 2.58, 1.63, 2.83, and 1.92, respectively).

"Surveillance of non-tobacco oral nicotine product use among adolescents merits priority for national policies designed to protect pediatric populations and promote health equity," the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text