The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, headquartered in White Oak, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), released data from the 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) on tobacco product use among U.S. youth. The findings, which were collected between March and June 2023, show that 10% of U.S. middle and high school students (2.8 million youth) reported current use of any tobacco product. Among U.S. high school students, current overall tobacco product use declined during 2022-2023 (16.5% to 12.6%). This decline was primarily attributable to reduced e-cigarette use (14.1% to 10%), which translates to 580,000 fewer high school students who reported current use of e-cigarettes in 2023. Among high school students, declines in current use were also observed during 2022-2023 for cigars and overall combustible tobacco smoking, representing all-time lows.

Per the FDA and CDC: “It’s encouraging to see this substantial decline in e-cigarette use among high schoolers within the past year, which is a win for public health,” said Brian King, Ph.D., M.P.H., director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. “But we can’t rest on our laurels. There’s more work to be done to build on this progress.” Although a decrease in e-cigarette use was observed among high school students, among middle school students there was an increase in current overall tobacco product use (4.5% to 6.6%) and multiple tobacco product use (1.5% to 2.5%). However, among middle school students overall, no significant change was observed during 2022-2023 for current use of any individual tobacco product type, including e-cigarettes.