Sports Team Participation and Vaping Among High School Students: 2015–2019

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Electronic vapor products (EVPs) have gained popularity among adolescents despite the health risks. This study aimed to evaluate whether sports team participation, a well-established protective factor against cigarette use, is similarly associated with decreased EVP use. METHODS: This cross-sectional study analyzed the 2015–2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey cohorts. Survey-weighted logistic regressions investigated associations between sports team participation and past 30-day exclusive cigarette use, exclusive EVP use, and dual cigarette/EVP use among US high school students, adjusting for sex, grade, and survey year. RESULTS: The analytic cohort included 16 790 sports team participants (1.7% exclusive cigarette users, 18.3% exclusive EVP users, 5.5% dual users) and 13 972 nonparticipants (3.1% exclusive cigarette users, 13.4% exclusive EVP users, 7.6% dual users). Sports team participation was associated with lower odds of cigarette use (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.58; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.48-0.71) and dual use (aOR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.63-0.88) and higher odds of EVP use (aOR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.25-1.54). Among exclusive cigarette users and exclusive EVP users, sports team participation was associated with lower odds of frequent (≥20 days in the past month) than intermittent (1-19 days in the past month) cigarette use (aOR, 0.30; 95% CI, 0.19-0.49) and EVP use (aOR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.61-0.91), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that risk profiles for cigarette and EVP use differ with respect to sports team participation. Given the health risks associated with EVP use, aggressive efforts must be taken to educate student athletes about the health risks of EVP use.