Young Adults Are Switching to High-Nicotine E-Cigarettes, and Dependence Is Rising With Them

Young adults in the United States have moved sharply toward high-nicotine e-cigarettes, and the shift is associated with stronger nicotine dependence and vaping that is harder to stop, according to research from the University of California San Diego published on October 20 in the journal Tobacco Control.

The researchers analysed data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study, a nationally representative survey programme, covering 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022, along with longitudinal records for 2,356 adults who vaped in 2019 and were tracked through 2022.

A generational divide in nicotine strength

By 2022, nearly half of young adults who vaped every day — 49.2% — were using products containing at least 4% nicotine, the level the researchers classed as high-nicotine. Among daily vapers aged 55 and over, the figure was just 4.5%. Overall, among people who vaped in 2022, the odds of using a high-nicotine product were 12 times higher for 18- to 24-year-olds than for adults aged 55 and older — a gap the team found even within the same brands.

The pattern matters because the stronger products were associated with increased nicotine dependence and more persistent vaping over time, making it harder for young users to cut down or quit.

Regulators urged to reassess

Senior author John P. Pierce, a professor at UC San Diego’s Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health, noted that the Food and Drug Administration’s authorisation of these products rested partly on the expectation that benefits for adults trying to stop smoking would outweigh the risk of creating new nicotine dependence among young people. The findings, he argued, suggest that balance needs to be reassessed, with young adults disproportionately choosing the strongest products on the market.

Source: News-Medical