Jackson, Sarah E;
Tattan-Birch, Harry;
Shahab, Lion;
Oldham, Melissa;
Kale, Dimitra;
Brose, Leonie;
Brown, Jamie;
(2024)
Who would be affected by a ban on disposable vapes? A population study in Great Britain.
Public Health
10.1016/j.puhe.2023.12.024.
(In press).
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The UK government is consulting on banning disposable e-cigarettes. This study aimed to describe trends in disposable e-cigarette use among adults in Great Britain since 2021 and establish who would currently be affected by a ban on disposables. STUDY DESIGN: Nationally-representative monthly cross-sectional survey. METHODS: We analysed data from 69,973 adults surveyed between January 2021 and August 2023. We estimated monthly time trends in the weighted prevalence of current disposable e-cigarette use among adults and by sociodemographic characteristics and smoking status. RESULTS: From January 2021 to August 2023, the prevalence of disposable e-cigarette use grew from 0.1 % to 4.9 %. This rise was observed across all population subgroups but was most pronounced among younger adults (e.g. reaching 15.9 % of 18-year-olds compared with 1.3 % of 65-year-olds), those who currently smoke (16.3 %), and those who stopped smoking in the past year (18.2 %). Use among never smokers remained relatively rare (1.5 %), except among 18- to 24-year-olds (7.1 %). Use was significantly higher in England than Wales or Scotland (5.3 % vs. 2.0 % and 2.8 %) and among less (vs. more) advantaged social grades (6.1 % vs. 4.0 %), those with (vs. without) children (6.4 % vs. 4.4 %), and those with (vs. without) a history of mental health conditions (9.3 % vs. 3.1 %). CONCLUSIONS: A ban on disposable e-cigarettes would currently affect one in 20 adults in Great Britain (approximately 2.6 million people). The proportion who would be affected would be greatest among young people, including the 316,000 18-24 year-olds who currently use disposables but who have never regularly smoked tobacco, which may discourage uptake of vaping in this group. However, a ban would also affect 1.2 million people who currently smoke and a further 744,000 who previously smoked. It would also have a disproportionate impact on disadvantaged groups that have higher rates of smoking and typically find it harder to quit.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Who would be affected by a ban on disposable vapes? A population study in Great Britain |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.puhe.2023.12.024 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2023.12.024 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Royal Society for Public Health under a Creative Commons license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | Disposable vapes, Vaping, e-cigarettes, Population study |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Behavioural Science and Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10186139 |
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