A study from Yale School of Medicine said a quarter of high school students in Connecticut have tried an electronic cigarette.
The study also found that 3.5 percent of middle school students have used e-cigarettes, more than had used tobacco in the past month.
The New Haven Register reported that four high schools and two middle schools in Connecticut were surveyed for the study. In the six-school sample, 8.8 percent of high school students and 1.1 percent of middle school students reported smoking cigarettes in the past month.
From the article:
What the researchers found especially noteworthy was that 84.3 percent of middle school students and 92 percent of high school students were aware of e-cigs, whether or not they had tried them. “The awareness was very high,” [lead author Suchitra] Krishnan-Sarin said. “The main point of the study would be that use rates are high and seem to be on an upward trend,” she said. Half of the middle school students said that e-cigarettes were their first experience in tobacco use, and 26 percent said they would consider vaping, as e-cigarette use is called. The nicotine in the cigarette is ignited as a vapor. “Student use of these products are going up. They seem to be increasing in middle school and high school kids,” Krishnan-Sarin said.
The study appeared in the December issue of the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.
This report includes information from The Associated Press.
