UC San Diego Study: High-Nicotine E-Cigarette Use Surged Among Young Adults, Alongside Nicotine Dependence
Researchers at the University of California San Diego's Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science found that high-nicotine e-cigarette use rose sharply among U.S. young adults between 2017 and 2022 and was associated with increased nicotine dependence and more persistent vaping. The study, published October 20, 2026, in the journal Tobacco Control, analyzed data from the nationally representative Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study surveys conducted in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022.
By 2022, nearly half (49.2%) of young adults who vaped daily were using e-cigarettes containing at least 4% nicotine, the study's threshold for high-nicotine products, up from 3.1% in 2017. Among daily vapers ages 55 and older, just 4.5% used products at that level. Overall, among people who vaped in 2022, the odds of using a high-nicotine e-cigarette were 12 times higher for 18- to 24-year-olds than for adults 55 and older. Senior author John P. Pierce, a professor at the school, said the Food and Drug Administration's authorization of these products was based in part on the expectation that benefits to adults who smoke would outweigh the risks of creating new nicotine dependence among young people, and that the findings suggest this balance needs to be reassessed. The researchers noted the study is observational and cannot establish cause and effect.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：电子烟设备特写（资料图）。照片：Vaping360，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / A close-up of an e-cigarette device (file photo). Photo: Vaping360, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
