Exposure to Negative News Stories About Vaping, and Harm Perceptions of Vaping, Among Youth in England, Canada, and the United States Before and After the Outbreak of E-cigarette or Vaping-Associated Lung Injury (‘EVALI’)

East, Katherine; Reid, Jessica L.; Burkhalter, Robin; Wackowski, Olivia A; Thrasher, James F.; Tattan‐Birch, Harry; Boudreau, Christian; Bansal-Travers, Maansi; Liber, Alex; McNeill, Ann; Hammond, David

doi:10.1093/ntr/ntac088

Cited by 25 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…9 Likewise, changes in the proportions who thought e-cigarettes were less or more harmful were short-lived, returning to pre-2019 levels by the end of 2020. 27 Interestingly, changes in harm perceptions around the timing of EVALI appeared similar across age groups, despite EVALI predominantly affecting young people 9 and this being highlighted in media coverage at the time. 5 Following EVALI, the COVID-19 pandemic did not coincide with substantial changes in harm perceptions of e-cigarettes, with the only notable change being an increase in don't know responses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…EVALI cases declined to virtually zero by February 2020, at which point the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped publishing updates on case numbers . Likewise, changes in the proportions who thought e-cigarettes were less or more harmful were short-lived, returning to pre-2019 levels by the end of 2020 . Interestingly, changes in harm perceptions around the timing of EVALI appeared similar across age groups, despite EVALI predominantly affecting young people and this being highlighted in media coverage at the time …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Trends in Harm Perceptions of E-Cigarettes vs Cigarettes Among Adults Who Smoke in England, 2014-2023

Jackson,

Tattan-Birch,

East

et al. 2024

JAMA Netw Open

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ImportanceElectronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are less harmful to users than combustible cigarettes. However, public health and media reporting have often overstated the potential risks of e-cigarettes, and inaccurate perceptions of the harms of vaping relative to smoking are pervasive.ObjectiveTo examine time trends in harm perceptions of e-cigarettes compared with combustible cigarettes among adults who smoke.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis nationally representative monthly cross-sectional survey study was conducted from November 2014 to June 2023 in England. Participants were adults who currently smoke.Main Outcomes and MeasuresParticipants were asked whether they thought e-cigarettes were less harmful, equally harmful, or more harmful than cigarettes, or did not know, with the proportion responding less harmful (vs all other responses) as the primary outcome. Logistic regression was used to test associations between survey wave and participants’ perceptions of the harms of e-cigarettes.ResultsData were collected from 28 393 adults who smoke (mean [SD] age, 43.5 [17.3] years; 13 253 [46.7%] women). In November 2014, 44.4% (95% CI, 42.0%-46.8%) thought e-cigarettes were less harmful than cigarettes, 30.3% (95% CI, 28.2%-32.6%) thought e-cigarettes were equally harmful, 10.8% (95% CI, 9.4%-12.3%) thought they were more harmful, and 14.5% (95% CI, 12.9%-16.4%) did not know. However, by June 2023, the proportion who thought e-cigarettes were less harmful had decreased by 40% (prevalence ratio, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.55-0.66), and the proportion who thought e-cigarettes were more harmful had more than doubled (prevalence ratio, 2.16; 95% CI, 1.84-2.54). Changes over time were nonlinear: late 2019 saw a sharp decline in the proportion who thought e-cigarettes were less harmful and increases in the proportions who thought they were equally or more harmful. These changes were short-lived, returning to pre-2019 levels by the end of 2020. However, perceptions worsened again from 2021 up to the end of the study period: the proportion who thought e-cigarettes were more harmful increased to a new high, and the proportion who thought e-cigarettes were less harmful decreased to levels comparable to those in late 2019. As a result, in June 2023, the perception that e-cigarettes were equally as harmful as cigarettes was the most commonly held view among adults who smoke (33.7%; 95% CI, 31.4%-36.1%), with roughly similar proportions perceiving e-cigarettes to be less (26.7%; 95% CI, 24.6%-28.9%) and more (23.3%; 95% CI, 21.1%-25.7%) harmful.Conclusions and RelevanceThis survey study of adults who smoke in England found that harm perceptions of e-cigarettes have worsened substantially over the last decade, such that most adults who smoked in 2023 believed e-cigarettes to be at least as harmful as cigarettes. The timing of the 2 most notable changes in harm perceptions coincided with the e-cigarette, or vaping product, use-associated lung injury outbreak in 2019 and the recent increase in youth vaping in England since 2021.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Trends in Harm Perceptions of E-Cigarettes vs Cigarettes Among Adults Who Smoke in England, 2014-2023

Jackson,

Tattan-Birch,

East

et al. 2024

JAMA Netw Open

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Similarly, examined longitudinal changes in media frames and media tones about e-cigarettes in Chinese newspapers and it was found that the tone of the large majority of news articles was unfavorable towards electronic cigarettes. Additionally, East et al (2022) found that between 2017 and 2020, youth exposure to negative news stories, and perceptions of vaping harms, increased in England, Canada, and the United States of America.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

News portrayals of electronic cigarette use

Ngoma¹

2022

Preprint

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The mass media play a crucial role in informing the masses about various health issues, they are the main source of health information. The media's portrayal of electronic cigarette news, therefore, plays a crucial role in shaping audience attitudes and understanding of electronic cigarettes. This narrative review focused on content analytical studies on electronic cigarettes in different countries and regions as published in various peer-reviewed journals and available on Google Scholar. In the instances where electronic cigarette consumption is presented with negative frames, the accompanying overall story topics are mostly related to policy issues and the most commonly used news sources are government officials and legislators. On the other hand, news framing in other countries is somewhat balanced and this could be attributed to mounting scientific findings about the health impact of e-cigarettes. Doctors and scientists are likely to be the main and most frequently used sources of information in such cases.

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“…8,34 The consequent emphasis on dangers of vaping in US news resulted in more negative public perceptions of ENDS use and more of the public discourse focusing on their potential dangers to youth, [35][36][37][38][39] in contrast to countries like the UK, where there has been more emphasis on ENDS' potential benefits for adults. 40,41 Additionally, in the US, many states and localities enacted restrictions or bans on flavored ENDS sales in 2020 and 2021. 9 Early 2020 marked the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, as SARS-CoV-2 spread rapidly across the country.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing patterns of cigarette and ENDS transitions in the USA: a multistate transition analysis of adults in the PATH Study in 2017–2019 vs 2019–2021

Brouwer,

Jeon,

Jimenez-Mendoza

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Introduction: The use of cigarettes and electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) has likely changed since 2019 with the rise of pods and disposables, the outbreak of lung injuries related to vaping THC, flavor bans, and the COVID pandemic. We analyzed patterns of initiation, cessation, and transitions between cigarettes, ENDS, and dual use before and after 2019. Methods: Using the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study, we applied a multistate transition model to 28,061 adults in Waves 4–5 (2017–19) and 24,751 adults in Waves 5–6 (2019–21), estimating transition rates for initiation, cessation, and switching products for each period overall and by age group. Results: Cigarette initiation among adults who never used either product decreased from 2017–19 to 2019–21, but ENDS initiation did not significantly change. Persistence of ENDS-only use remained high, with 75–80% still using ENDS only after 1 year. Cigarette-only use transitions remained similar, with about 88% remaining, 7% transitioning to non-current use, and 5% transitioning to dual or ENDS-only use. In contrast, dual use to ENDS-only transitions increased from 9.5% (95%CI: 7.3–11.7%) to 20.1% (95%CI: 17.5–22.7%) per year from 2017–19 to 2019–21, decreasing the persistence of dual use. The dual use to cigarette-only transition remained at about 25%. These changes were qualitatively similar across adult age groups, though adults ages 18–24 years exhibited the highest probability of switching from cigarette-only use to dual use and from dual use to ENDS-only use. Conclusions: Persistence of ENDS use among adults remained high in 2019–21, but a larger fraction of dual users transitioned to ENDS-only use compared to 2017–19. Because the fraction of cigarette-only users switching to dual use remained low, the public health implications of the increased dual use to ENDS-only transition are minimal.

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Exposure to Negative News Stories About Vaping, and Harm Perceptions of Vaping, Among Youth in England, Canada, and the United States Before and After the Outbreak of E-cigarette or Vaping-Associated Lung Injury (‘EVALI’)

Cited by 25 publications

References 44 publications

Trends in Harm Perceptions of E-Cigarettes vs Cigarettes Among Adults Who Smoke in England, 2014-2023

Trends in Harm Perceptions of E-Cigarettes vs Cigarettes Among Adults Who Smoke in England, 2014-2023

News portrayals of electronic cigarette use

Changing patterns of cigarette and ENDS transitions in the USA: a multistate transition analysis of adults in the PATH Study in 2017–2019 vs 2019–2021

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