E-cigarettes an evidence update A report commissioned by Public Health England

E-cigarettes: an evidence updateSummaryRegular use of EC among youth is rare with around 2% using at least monthly and 0.5%weekly. A minority of British youth report having tried EC (national estimates suggestaround 12%). Whilst there was some experimentation with EC among never smokers,nearly all those using EC regularly were cigarette smokers.Trends in e-cigarette use among young people (ASH Smokefree GB youth)The ASH Smokefree GB youth surveys indicate that awareness of EC has increasedmarkedly, with the proportion of individuals who had never heard of EC falling from33.1% in 2013 to 7.0% in 2015. Ever having tried EC also increased, from 4.5% in2013, to 8.1% in 2014, and to 12.7% in 2015. However, the proportion using an ECmonthly or more frequently remained virtually unchanged from 2014 (1.6%) to 2015(1.7%). Over the same period, the proportion of regular smokers (at least weekly)remained at around 4% (2013: 4%, 2014: 3.6%, 2015: 4%).Type and flavour among youthThe proportion of youth reporting current use was too small to assess the mostfrequently used types or flavours in current users, so Figures 5 and 6 include everyonewho had tried an EC. One third had first used a tank model and the most popularflavours among triers by far were fruit flavours. The responses for adults and youth arenot directly comparable given flavours were assessed for adult current EC users, but inthe latter group, fruit flavours were less popular than tobacco flavours.34