e-cigarettes display can trigger smoking in teenagers

Promotion of e-cigarettes is done so as to help adults quit smoking but British researchers have found a strong association between e-cigarette display and teenagers who intend to try them in the future.

Teenagers who remember e-cigarette display in stores are likely to have tried it in the past and are more likely to intend to try them in the future. 

The findings, published in the open access journal BMC Public Health, showed that adolescents who reported using e-cigarettes had only tried them once or twice and were not regular users but young people were more likely to try e-cigarettes if they had previously smoked tobacco.

"Policymakers need to consider carefully how to balance the promotion of e-cigarettes to adult smokers as an aid to help them quit while, at the same time, minimising their uptake by young people," said Catherine Best from University of Stirling in Britain.

The team examined the relationship between adolescents' recollection of e-cigarette displays at point of sale (POS) and their self-reported past use and future intention to use e-cigarettes.

They conducted a survey in four high schools in Scotland which involved 3,808 students between 11 and 18 years of age. 

Participants were asked whether they had heard of e-cigarettes, whether they had ever used them and whether they intended to try them in the next 6 months. 

The findings showed strong association between recall of e-cigarette displays at point of sale and use of e-cigarettes and intention to use in the future.