Association of Electronic Cigarette Use by US Adolescents With Subsequent Persistent Cigarette Smoking

IMPORTANCE: Many studies have reported a positive association of youth electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use with subsequent cigarette smoking initiation, but it remains unclear whether e-cigarette use is associated with continued cigarette smoking after initiation. OBJECTIVE: To assess the association of youth baseline e-cigarette use with their continued cigarette smoking 2 years after initiation. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: The Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study is a national longitudinal cohort study. This sample consisted of youth who participated in waves 3, 4, and 5 of the study (wave 3 was from October 2015 to October 2016, wave 4 was from December 2016 to January 2018, and wave 5 was from December 2018 to November 2019) and had never used cigarettes (cigarette-naive) by wave 3. The current analysis used multivariable logistic regressions in August 2022 to assess the association between e-cigarette use among cigarette-naive adolescents aged 12 to 17 years in 2015 and 2016 and subsequent continued cigarette smoking. PATH uses audio computer-assisted self-interviewing and computer-assisted personal interviewing to collect data. EXPOSURES: Ever and current (past 30-day) use of e-cigarettes in wave 3. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Continued cigarette smoking in wave 5 after initiating smoking in wave 4. RESULTS: The current sample included 8671 adolescents who were cigarette naive in wave 3 and also participated in waves 4 and 5; 4823 of the participants (55.4%) were aged 12 to 14 years, 4454 (51.1%) were male, and 3763 (51.0%) were non-Hispanic White. Overall, regardless of e-cigarette use, few adolescents (362 adolescents [4.1%]) initiated cigarette smoking at wave 4, and even fewer (218 participants [2.5%]) continued smoking at wave 5. Controlling for multiple covariates, the adjusted odds ratio of baseline ever e-cigarette use, compared with never e-cigarette use, was 1.81 (95% CI, 1.03 to 3.18) for continued smoking measured as past 30-day smoking at wave 5. However, the adjusted risk difference (aRD) was small and not significant. The aRD was 0.88 percentage point (95% CI, −0.13 to 1.89 percentage points) for continued smoking, with the absolute risk being 1.19% (95% CI, 0.79% to 1.59%) for never e-cigarette users and 2.07% (95% CI, 1.01% to 3.13%) for ever e-cigarette users. Similar results were found using an alternative measure of continued smoking (lifetime ≥100 cigarettes and current smoking at wave 5) and using baseline current e-cigarette use as the exposure measure. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this cohort study, absolute and relative measures of risks yielded findings suggesting very different interpretations of the association. Although there were statistically significant odds ratios of continued smoking comparing baseline e-cigarette users with nonusers, the minor risk differences between them, along with the small absolute risks, suggest that few adolescents are likely to continue smoking after initiation regardless of baseline e-cigarette use.