• Jaana Maarit Kinnunen, Hanna Ollila, Salma El-Tayeb El-Amin, Lasse Antero Pere, Pirjo Liisa Lindfors, and Arja Hannele Rimpelä.
• School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.
• Tob Control. 2015 Dec 1; 24 (e4): e264-70.

BackgroundA wide range of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are now on the market. We studied e-cigarette awareness and use, determinants and sources of e-cigarettes, the e-liquids used in them and exposure to e-cigarette advertisements among adolescents in Finland. Among smokers, we studied the association of e-cigarette use and interest in smoking cessation.MethodData were obtained from a national survey of 12-18-year-old Finnish adolescents in 2013 (N=3535, response rate 38%). Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were used.ResultsOf the respondents, 85.3% knew what e-cigarettes were; 17.4% had tried them. E-liquids with nicotine were used most often (65.7%); also those who had never tried conventional cigarettes had used them. Of e-cigarette ever users, 8.3% had never tried smoking. Parents' high level of education, being in employment, and intact family protected against children's e-cigarette use. In the final model, daily smoking (OR 41.35; 95% CI 25.2 to 67.8), snus use (2.96; 2.4-4.0), waterpipe use (2.21; 1.6-3.0), children's vocational education (2.06; 1.4-3.1) and poor school performance (1.92; 1.4-3.0) were associated with e-cigarette experimentation. Those smokers with most experience of e-cigarettes were least likely to consider smoking cessation.ConclusionsAwareness and experimentation with e-cigarettes are high among adolescents, especially in older age groups and boys. Nicotine e-liquids are easy to acquire for youth. Having similar risk factors, e-cigarette use seems to follow the model of conventional smoking initiation. Among adolescent smokers, use of e-cigarettes does not clearly relate to interest in smoking cessation. Preventive policies are needed to protect the youth.Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

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