UC research supports state’s effort to raise age limit on tobacco purchases

Merianos’ research on the effects of secondhand and thirdhand smoke on teen health has garnered attention from around the world, and more recently her research on the means of acquiring e-cigarettes among adolescents earned her an award from the American Academy of Health Behavior. Merianos' impactful research exemplifies Academic Excellence, a major platform of UC's strategic direction, Next Lives Here.

She presents what she describes as “part two” of her research on adolescent e-cigarette use this week at the Pediatric Academic Societies conference, this time focusing on the flavors and brands that are most prevalent among daily and nondaily adolescent vapers. Merianos' findings further support the need to increase the minimum age to purchase tobacco products.

A secondary analysis of data from the 2016 National Youth Tobacco Survey found that compared to nondaily users, daily e-cigarette users were more likely to try more flavors, try more brands and vape cannabis products.

While fruity and candy flavors were predictably popular among daily users, daily and nondaily users were about equally likely to have tried menthol flavoring, which came as a surprise to Merianos. She theorizes that because menthol was not among the flavors banned by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009, it lacks the same appeal as other flavors not found in cigarettes anymore.

While both daily and nondaily users acknowledged having used many popular brands such as Vuse, Blu and Halo, a large number of each listed “other.” Merianos suspects a large number of the “other” responses were in reference to Juul, a brand known for its concealable form and the high nicotine concentration of the “pods” Juul e-cigarettes use. Juul was not an option listed on the survey.