Almost 13 Percent of U.S. Adults Have Tried E-Cigarettes: CDC Study

A new government study finds that almost 13 percent of U.S. adults have tried e-cigarettes, the Los Angeles Times reports. Almost 4 percent of adults use the devices on a regular basis.

In contrast, 15.2 percent of American adults smoke traditional cigarettes, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found. The new figures offer the first comprehensive picture of e-cigarette use among U.S. adults, the CDC researchers said.

E-cigarette use among teens tripled from 2013 to 2014, according to a government report released in April. An estimated 13 percent of high school students used e-cigarettes last year—compared with 9 percent who smoked traditional cigarettes.

The new study found that among adults, e-cigarettes are more widely used among current and recent former smokers, compared with nonsmokers and people who smoked long ago.

Almost half of current smokers said they had tried an e-cigarette, and 16 percent continued to use them. Among those who quit smoking in the past year, 55 percent had tried an e-cigarette at least once, and 22 percent used them regularly.

Among people who never smoked regular cigarettes, only 3.2 percent had tried an e-cigarette, and 0.4 percent used them regularly. Among longtime former smokers, 9 percent had tried an e-cigarette, and 2.3 percent continued using them.

Young adults ages 18 to 24 were more likely than older adults to have tried e-cigarettes. The study found 22 percent of young adults had tried e-cigarettes, compared with fewer than 4 percent of senior citizens.