Survey: Middle School Vaping Rises, 43.2% Among Vocational School Boys

Recently, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention released the results of the 2019 tobacco survey among Chinese middle school students, showing that the smoking rate among junior high school students has significantly decreased, while the use of e-cigarettes has risen sharply.

The survey indicated that in 2019, 69.9% of junior high school students had heard of e-cigarettes, and the current e-cigarette usage rate is 2.7%, which represents an increase of 24.9 and 1.5 percentage points compared to 2014.

In the study of smoking among groups, vocational school students have become a major "focus," with their proportion far exceeding that of regular high school students, at 30.3%, 14.7%, and 4.5%, respectively. Among vocational school boys, the figures are as high as 43.2%, 23.3%, and 7.1%.

E-cigarettes were once seen as a substitute for traditional tobacco, but some claims describing them as "harm reduction tools" are not entirely objective. A new study published in Science Advances on Wednesday indicates that e-cigarettes not only pose potential harm to the lungs but may also increase the risk of gum disease in young e-cigarette users.

Moreover, research shows that teenagers are more likely to obtain e-cigarette products containing nicotine or THC through informal channels.