WEDNESDAY, Sept. 12, 2018 (HealthDay News) — From 2014 to 2017, ever-use and current use of any tobacco product among U.S. middle and high school students were highest among Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islanders (NHOPIs) and American Indian/Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) and lowest among Asians, according to research published in the Aug. 31 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Satomi Odani, M.P.H., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues used pooled data from the 2014 to 2017 National Youth Tobacco Surveys to assess tobacco product use among U.S. middle and high school students from seven racial/ethnic groups.
The researchers found that ever-use of any tobacco product among U.S. middle and high school students was 45.1 percent for NHOPIs, 43.8 percent for AI/ANs, 38.2 percent for multiracial persons, 35.1 percent for Hispanics, 32.2 percent for blacks, 32.0 percent for whites, and 16.3 percent for Asians. Current use of any tobacco product followed a similar pattern: NHOPIs (23.4 percent), AI/ANs (20.6 percent), multiracial persons (16.5 percent), whites (15.3 percent), Hispanics (14.6 percent), blacks (11.5 percent), and Asians (5.0 percent). Cigars were the most commonly used product among black middle and high school students, whereas electronic cigarettes were the most commonly used product for all other racial/ethnic groups.
“Comprehensive and sustained implementation of evidence-based, population-level tobacco control interventions could reduce prevalence and disparities in tobacco product use among U.S. youths,” the authors write.
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