Electronic cigarette use among junior high school students of health promotion schools in Xihu District / 预防医学

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To investigate electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use and its influencing factors among junior high school students of health promotion schools in Xihu District, Hangzhou City, so as to provide insights into school-based tobacco control.@*Methods@#Grade 1 to 3 junior high school students of health promotion schools in Xihu District were recruited using a multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method from September to December, 2021. The participants' demographic features, e-cigarette use and exposure to tobacco advertising were collected using the Chinese version of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey, and the factors affecting the intention to use e-cigarettes were identified using a multivariable logistic regression model.@*Results@#The 1 677 respondents included 875 boys (52.18%) and 802 girls (47.82%), and grade 1 to 3 junior high school students consisted of 33.93%, 35.00% and 31.07% of all respondents, respectively. There were 1 461 students that had heard of e-cigarettes (87.12%), 101 students with intention to use e-cigarettes (6.02%), and 24 current users (1.43%). Multivariable logistic regression analysis identified living in rural areas (OR=2.364, 95%CI 1.442-3.875), having close friends that were smokers (OR=5.614, 95%CI 3.404-9.258), having seen smoking via TV, video or movie in the past 30 days (OR=2.106, 95%CI 1.259-3.523), having received free tobacco products (OR=3.887, 95%CI 1.172-12.894), considering e-cigarettes as nicotine-free (OR=208.442, 95%CI 55.713-779.856), and considering smoking making comfortable at party (OR=4.534, 95%CI 1.853-11.090) as factors affecting intention to use e-cigarettes. There were 38.04% (638/1 677) of junior high school students with exposure to advertisements for e-cigarettes and related products, and stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, grocery, e-cigarette experience stores or offline retail stores were the primary places to contact e-cigarettes and related products.@*Conclusions@#The percentage of intention to use e-cigarettes was low among junior high school students of health promotion schools in Xihu District in 2021, and their intention to use e-cigarettes was mainly affected by close friends' smoking status and personal recognition.