NHS Reveals Vape Data
The recently released NHS Health Survey for England covers data obtained in 2022 and describes vape habits (as well as cigarette smoking, physical activity, and fruit and vegetable consumption)
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by Dave Cross
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The recently released NHS Health Survey for England covers data obtained in 2022 and describes adults health-related behaviours including vape habits (as well as cigarette smoking, physical activity, and fruit and vegetable consumption).
Key Findings
- Current cigarette smoking has declined steadily from 27% in 1993 to 13% in 2022.
- Adults living in the most deprived areas were more likely to smoke cigarettes (21%) than those living in the least deprived areas (9%).
- In 2022, 9% of adults currently used e-cigarettes. Current cigarette smokers were more likely to use e-cigarettes compared with those who have never smoked cigarettes (26% and 2%, respectively).
The report uses the term e-cigarette to refer to all vaping devices and covers questions asked about vaping behaviour between 2016 and 2022.
Vaping by age and sex
9% of adults aged 16 and over reported currently vaping. 79% had never tried e-cigarettes and 12% reported that they had tried vapes but were not currently using them.
The prevalence of adults vaping decreased with age. It was highest among those aged 16 to 24 (15%) and lowest among those aged 75 and over (1%). Current e-cigarette use did not differ between men and women (10% and 8%, respectively).
Smoking status by age and sex
26% of current cigarette smokers also currently vaped, as did 17% of ex-regular smokers and 2% of those who had never smoked cigarettes.
Women who currently smoke cigarettes were more likely to vape (28%) compared with men (24%).
Ecig use by region
Vaping varied across regions, with the highest prevalence in Yorkshire and the Humber (13%), and the lowest prevalence in London and the West Midlands (both 6%).
Vaping by deprivation index
The English Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) is a measure of area deprivation, based on 37 indicators, across seven domains of deprivation. IMD is a measure of the overall deprivation experienced by people living in a neighbourhood, although not everyone who lives in a deprived neighbourhood will be deprived themselves.
Further information about the IMD is available on the first page of the HSE 2022 Methods documentation.
The proportion of adults who currently used e-cigarettes varied by area deprivation. Current e-cigarette use in the most deprived areas was 13% compared with 7% in the least deprived areas.
Trends in e-cigarette use
Current e-cigarette use remained stable at 6% between 2016 and 2019 and increased to 9% in 2022. This upward trend occurred in both men (6% to 8% between 2016 and 2019 and 10% in 2022) and women (5% between 2016 and 2019 and 8% in 2022). Prevalence of adults who had never used an e-cigarette decreased from 82% in 2016 to 79% in 2022.
References:
- Detailed tables accompanying the NHS Health Survey for England can be accessed here
Photo Credit:
Crowd photo by Goashape Studio on Unsplash
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
