Exploring Vaping Trends: Alarming Rise in Adolescent EVP Use Revealed by Florida Atlantic University Study
Researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine Exploring Vaping Trends in electronic vaping products use by 50,000+ high school students from 2015 (earliest available data) to 2021. Results published in the peer-reviewed Ochsner Health Journal show alarming statistically significant and clinically important increases of the daily use of EVPs in U.S. adolescents. Daily use of EVPs increased from 2% in 2015 to 7.2% in 2019, greater than three-and-one-half times increase. Although the percentage decreased to 5% in 2021, it was still more than a two-and-one-half increase since 2015. The researchers speculate that the effects of COVID-19, which included lockdowns and remote schooling, may have contributed to the decrease in 2021. Findings also show that in 2015, the percentage of EVP use was significantly higher in boys (2.8%) than girls (1.1%). By 2021, the percentage of EVP use was higher in girls (5.6%) than in boys (4.5%), a one-and-one-quarter increase. This significant increase in popularity among students is creating problems on several levels for school officials. Fortunately, there are resources such as Soter Technologies‘ FlySense vaping detection devices, which notify school officials – in real-time – when vaping (and/or bullying) is taking place in areas such as restrooms where recording devices are not an option due to privacy issues.
