TY - JOUR
T1 - Electronic cigarettes and public health awareness
T2 - A cross-sectional analysis of Google search inquiries
AU - Lester, Drew
AU - Torgerson, Trevor
AU - Eyabi, Jorgen
AU - Wayant, Cole
AU - Vassar, Matt
N1 - Funding Information:
M.V. is funded through the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Research Integrity and the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/8/1
Y1 - 2021/8/1
N2 - The number of American adults who use electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) increased by 3 million people in 2018, up 38.3% from 8.1 to 11.2 million. Search data for ENDS were analyzed against relevant traits including state longitude, tobacco tax rate and national tobacco program funding. Searches increased 88% (95% CI, 70-100) over the last 5 years and peaked on 8 September 2019, after the CDC issued a warning about the link between ENDS and high-profile lung damage cases. Searches aimed at buying ENDS subsequently dropped 25% (95% CI, 20.1-29.6), while health-related ENDS searches spiked to their all-time high, increasing 22% (95% CI, -6 to 55) compared with the first half of 2019. ENDS searches are now more concentrated than 5 years ago, reversing the trend of the early 2010s, likely because certain states have passed laws to curb the use of ENDS. The public prefers searching for 'vaping' over 'e-cigarette' in a phenomenon similar to 'high fructose corn syrup' versus 'sugar'. Consequently, public policy discussions and public education campaigns need to use 'vaping' terms, and more states should enact policies that are strongly associated with lower ENDS usage, many of which we identify.
AB - The number of American adults who use electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) increased by 3 million people in 2018, up 38.3% from 8.1 to 11.2 million. Search data for ENDS were analyzed against relevant traits including state longitude, tobacco tax rate and national tobacco program funding. Searches increased 88% (95% CI, 70-100) over the last 5 years and peaked on 8 September 2019, after the CDC issued a warning about the link between ENDS and high-profile lung damage cases. Searches aimed at buying ENDS subsequently dropped 25% (95% CI, 20.1-29.6), while health-related ENDS searches spiked to their all-time high, increasing 22% (95% CI, -6 to 55) compared with the first half of 2019. ENDS searches are now more concentrated than 5 years ago, reversing the trend of the early 2010s, likely because certain states have passed laws to curb the use of ENDS. The public prefers searching for 'vaping' over 'e-cigarette' in a phenomenon similar to 'high fructose corn syrup' versus 'sugar'. Consequently, public policy discussions and public education campaigns need to use 'vaping' terms, and more states should enact policies that are strongly associated with lower ENDS usage, many of which we identify.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123813918&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/her/cyab015
DO - 10.1093/her/cyab015
M3 - Article
C2 - 34143188
AN - SCOPUS:85123813918
SN - 0268-1153
VL - 36
SP - 446
EP - 455
JO - Health Education Research
JF - Health Education Research
IS - 4
ER -