| Summary: | Background
China
is the world´s largest tobacco producer and consumer, in recent years has
become the world´s largest producer of e-cigarette. According to media reports, China-made
e-cigarette is mainly exported to foreign countries, and e-cigarette are not
popular in China, but such conclusions need support from surveillance data.
Methods
Data
of 2015 China Adult Tobacco Survey (CATS) and International Tobacco Control
Policy Evaluation Project China Survey (ITC China Survey) were analyzed to
describe rate of awareness and prevalence on e-cigarette. 2015 CATS is a
nationally representative cross-sectional survey of adults aged 15 and over. ITC
China survey is a cohort study designed to measure the impact of tobacco
control policies on tobacco users over time. Between 2006 and 2015, five survey
waves were conducted among a cohort of adult smokers and non-smokers in China.
Results
The
CATS found that 40.5% of adults had heard of e-cigarette and 3.1% of adults had
ever tried e-cigarette, these two rates are higher among male, urban, young and
educated groups. Only 0.5% of adults reported using e-cigarette currently, but
most of them are occasional users. ITC China survey revealed that the percentage
of smokers who had ever heard of e-cigarette went up from 29% (wave 3, 2009) to
60% (wave5, 2014). Similarly, percentage of smokers who had ever tried
e-cigarette went up from 2% (wave3, 2009) to 11% (wave5, 2014). Among smokers
who had tried e-cigarette at Wave 5, only 8% reported they were using
currently.
Conclusions
Although
rate of current e-cigarette use is relatively low, attention should be paid to
the fact that rate of awareness and ever tried use were going up among smokers.
E-cigarette prevalence indicators should be included in tobacco use monitoring
system, and more researches need be conducted to understand the characteristics
of the population using e-cigarette.
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