NYTS: Massive Declines in Smoking Rates Continue

Youth cigarette smoking rates in the United States are at historically low levels, with just 1.9 percent of high school students reporting current use of cigarettes, according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey 2021.

The NYTS found 2.55 million middle-school and high school students in the United States used tobacco products in 2021, according to figures released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the 2020 results, the agency estimated 4.5 million tobacco users among middle school and high school students nationally, down from 6.2 million in 2019.

If the report is accurate, tobacco use among teens nationally declined by more than 40 percent from 2020 to 2021. That would be largest decline in the history of the NYTS.

E-cigarettes were the most popular tobacco product among middle school and high school students in 2021, with an estimated 2 million users, the report found. Puff Bar was the popular brand. That is expected to change next year after Congress passed a rule the same day the study was released that gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority over synthetic nicotine products. That rule requires manufacturers of synthetic nicotine products to file a premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) with the FDA within 90 days.

An estimated 400,000 of students in the middle-high school age range smoked traditional cigarettes, while approximately 380,000 used cigars. Roughly 240,000 used smokeless tobacco, while 220,000 used hookahs and 200,000 tried nicotine pouches, according to the report.

Although the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration “remain confident in our study results,” the survey was conducted online, the agencies have again said that this year’s results cannot be compared to previous years. However, both the 2019 and 2020 surveys were conducted primarily on school campuses, the agencies said.