More than a quarter of adults and approximately 9 percent of youth in the U.S. are users of tobacco, according to a paper published Jan. 26 in the New England Journal of Medicine. Use of multiple tobacco products was common among tobacco users observed, most frequently a combination of cigarettes and e–cigarettes.

Karin A. Kasza, MA, et al., used data from the national longitudinal Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health study from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Institutes of Health, and presented prevalence estimates for 12 types of tobacco products. They looked at 45,971 adult and youth participants who were asked about their use of cigarettes, e–cigarettes, traditional cigars, cigarillos, smokeless tobacco and other various tobacco products.

Results showed that nearly 28 percent of adults were current users of at least one type of tobacco product in 2013 and 2014, and a total of 8.9 percent of youths had used a tobacco product in the previous 30 days, with 1.6 percent of youths reporting to use tobacco daily. Approximately 40 percent of tobacco users across all ages used multiple tobacco products. Adults ages 18 to 24 years, male adults and youths, members of racial minorities and members of sexual minorities generally reported higher use of tobacco than their counterparts.

The authors conclude that these findings will serve as baseline data to examine changes in the use of tobacco products as time elapses. As the study progresses, researchers hope to identify additional factors associated with quitting tobacco and associated health repercussions. They add that findings from the study may be used to inform future FDA actions on tobacco–related regulations.