Prevalence of awareness and use of juul e-cigarettes in a national probability sample of adolescents in the United States

Abstract

Objective: In this study, we estimate the prevalence of awareness and use of the JUUL e-cigarette among adolescents in the United States (US). Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, self-report online survey between September 21 and October 3, 2018 that assessed awareness and use of JUUL e-cigarettes, other e-cigarettes, and combustible cigarettes in a national probability sample of 1017 US adolescents aged 13-17 years. Results: Approximately 45.5% of adolescents aged 15-17 years and 29.1% of adolescents aged 13-14 years had ever seen or heard of a brand of e-cigarette called ‘JUUL’. Among adolescents aged 15-17 years, 7.6% had ever used a JUUL, 4.0% had used a JUUL in the past 30 days, and 0.3% had used a JUUL on 20-30 of the past 30 days. Among adolescents aged 13-14 years, 1.5% had ever used a JUUL, 0.8% had used a JUUL in the past 30 days, and 0.0% had used a JUUL on 20-30 of the past 30 days. Conclusion: In September-October 2018, we estimated that about 39 in 100 US adolescents aged 13-17 years were aware of the JUUL brand of e-cigarette, and about 3 in 100 were estimated to have used a JUUL e-cigarette in the past 30 days. Close to half of all past 30-day e-cigarette use involved use of a JUUL e-cigarette. Present prevalence estimates may be limited to online modes of survey data collection and to the time period in which the data were collected. Findings reinforce the public health importance of acting to reduce youth access to JUUL vaping products, and of routinely monitoring youth awareness and use of specific e-cigarette brands. .