Use of electronic cigarettes among secondary and high school students from a socially disadvantaged rural area in Poland

• Published in: BMC public health Vol. 16; no. 1; p. 703
• Main Authors: Kaleta, Dorota, Wojtysiak, Piotr, Polańska, Kinga
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central 03.08.2016; BioMed Central Ltd; BMC
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior; Adolescents; Adult; Alcohol Drinking; At risk populations; Biostatistics; Cigarettes; Data collection; Demographic aspects; E-cigarettes; Economic conditions; Economic statistics; Education; Electronic cigarettes; Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems - utilization; Environmental Health; Epidemiology; Female; Gender; Health aspects; Health behavior; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; health promotion and society; High school students; Humans; Legislation; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Nicotine; Perception; Poland - epidemiology; Prevalence; Public Health; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Research Article; Risk-Taking; Rural areas; Rural Population; Schools; Secondary school students; Secondary schools; Sex Factors; Smoking; Smoking - epidemiology; Social aspects; Social Environment; Socially disadvantaged rural areas; Socioeconomic Factors; Students; Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; Teenagers; Tobacco; Tobacco Products; Tobacco smoking; Unemployment; Vaccine; Vulnerable Populations; Young Adult; Youth; Poland; E-cigarettes; Youth; Tobacco; Socially disadvantaged rural areas; Smoking
• ISSN: 1471-2458; 1471-2458
• DOI: 10.1186/s12889-016-3417-y

Background The use of e-cigarettes has been growing and has become a significant public health concern. Prevention of the youth access to, initiation and continuous use of e-cigarettes with special attention to vulnerable groups is a subject of a health debate. However, still little is known about characteristics of the underage e-cigarette users from different geographic and socio-economic backgrounds as well as other potential factors associated with the use of e-cigarettes, including simultaneous use with tobacco products or alcohol. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence and factors associated with ever and continued e-cigarette use among the secondary and high school students from a socially disadvantaged rural area in Poland. Methods The study sample consisted of 3552 students aged 13–19 years from Piotrkowski district. The anonymous, self-administered questionnaire adapted from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey was implemented to collect relevant information. The uni- and multivariate logistic regression analyses were applied to identify factors associated with ever, current (in the previous 30 days) and continued e-cigarette use. Results Almost 22 % of the sample reported ever e-cigarettes use and 27 % of the respondents indicated e-cigarettes use in the past month. Boys, in comparison with girls, were more likely to report current e-cigarette use (OR = 1.7; p  < 0.001). Current e-cigarette use was strongly associated with alcohol consumption (OR = 4.3; p  < 0.001), current (OR = 32.5; p  < 0.001) and ever tobacco smoking (OR = 7.5; p  < 0.001) as well as smoking parents (OR = 1.4; p  < 0.05) and friends (OR = 4.5; p  < 0.05). The use of e-cigarettes was also significantly associated with harm perception ( p  < 0.001). A similar pattern was observed among ever e-cigarette users. Male gender (OR = 1.4; p  < 0.05), current tobacco smoking (OR = 3.0; p  < 0.01) and lack of knowledge about a ban on smoking in the school (OR = 1.4; p  < 0.05) were predictors of the continued e-cigarette use. Higher paternal education (OR = 0.5; p  < 0.001) and perception of e-cigarettes as more harmful comparing to tobacco (OR = 0.2; p  < 0.001) protected from the continued e-cigarette use. Conclusions E-cigarette use is widespread in the investigated population, especially among boys, those with other risky behaviors and with smoking parents or friends. There is a need for further research and preventive policies to protect the youth from that exposure.