U.S. Study: E-Cigarette Use During Adolescent Pregnancy Rose by 3.3% from 2016 to 2021

  E-cigarette use during pregnancy among U.S. adolescents rose from 0.8% to 4.1%. The study found no significant association between exclusive e-cigarette use or dual use of tobacco and lower birth weight in newborns.

According to a study published online by “JAMA Network Open” on December 13, the prevalence of e-cigarette use in late pregnancy among U.S. adolescents increased from 0.8% in 2016 to 4.1% in 2021.

The researchers mainly analyzed data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System from 2016 to 2021. They focused on 10,428 adolescents aged 10 to 19 who had singleton live births and provided information about their use of e-cigarettes or cigarettes.

Although the researchers found that exclusive e-cigarette use increased by about five times, the percentage of pregnant adolescents who used only cigarettes fell from 9.2% in 2017 to 3.2% in 2021. Meanwhile, the proportion of pregnant adolescents who used both e-cigarettes and cigarettes fluctuated between 0.6% and 1.6%.

Among adolescents who did not smoke or use e-cigarettes, 12.9% gave birth to infants with lower birth weight, compared with 16.8% among exclusive e-cigarette users and 17.6% among dual users of cigarettes and e-cigarettes. There was no significant difference in the proportion of lower birth weight between these groups. The researchers found that exclusive cigarette smoking was significantly associated with a higher proportion of lower birth weight infants (24.6%).

In this study, corresponding author Xiaozhong Wen, M.D., of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, said:

“In our analysis, exclusive e-cigarette use and dual use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes did not appear to have a statistically significant association with lower birth weight, but this finding should be interpreted cautiously given the low prevalence of use and limited sample size.”

The limitations of the study include the possibility that participants underreported their use of e-cigarettes and cigarettes because of concerns about social stigma. In addition, the researchers lacked information on e-cigarette use during the first and second trimesters, exposure to secondhand smoke, cannabis use, and dietary habits.

This study was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the FDA Center for Tobacco Products, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and the American Heart Association. One of the study collaborators had previously received grant funding from Pfizer and personal fees from Johnson & Johnson, the World Health Organization, and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.