As
reported here last week,
University of California San Francisco researchers Lauren Dutra and Stanton
Glantz tortured data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) to support a
purported “lack of a demonstrable acceleration in the long-term rate of decline”
in youth smoking after 2009. This was
despite the fact the survey data showed that smoking among high school students
declined from almost 16% in 2011 to 9% in 2014 – a reduction of 43% in just
three years (here).
The
“untortured” NYTS findings can be confirmed by charting data from another
federal survey: the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), which I
have used for smoking research for many years (discussed here).
Once
again, I used 2010 as the anchor year for equal intervals before widespread
e-cigarette use (2006-2010) and after (2010-2014, the latest year for public
access of NSDUH data). I tallied smoking
rates among boys and girls age 14-18 years, which is comparable to high school
students in the NYTS. The definition of
a current smoker is also the same in the two surveys: anyone who smoked on at
least one day in the past 30.
The
accompanying chart clearly illustrates that smoking declined among boys (-13%)
and girls (-20%) from 2006 to 2010. However,
during the next four years, the rate of decline doubled – to -31% for boys and -41% for girls.
Findings
from both federal surveys are consistent: The decline in smoking among high
school students accelerated as demonstrably safer (here)
e-cigarette use increases.
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