Table Info

Table 1.

Comparing the characteristics of former and current vapers

Characteristics	Former vapers n = 2,503, 81.8%	Current vapers n = 556, 18.2%	Total n = 3,059	P-value
Age, yr
Mean ± SD	24.9 ± 11.1	22.5 ± 10.7	24.4 ± 11.0	< 0.001
Median (IQR)	21 (5)	19 (5)	21 (6)	< 0.001
Female sex	1,075 (42.9%)	207 (37.2%)	1,282 (41.9%)	0.02
Province				0.09
Ontario	461 (18.4%)	73 (13.1%)	534 (17.5%)
Quebec	352 (14.1%)	74 (13.3%)	426 (13.9%)
Manitoba	227 (9.1%)	55 (9.9%)	282 (9.2%)
Alberta	232 (9.3%)	67 (12.1%)	299 (9.8%)
British Columbia	191 (7.6%)	48 (8.6%)	239 (7.8%)
Nova Scotia	206 (8.2%)	46 (8.3%)	252 (8.2%)
Saskatchewan	216 (8.6%)	42 (7.6%)	258 (8.4%)
New Brunswick	221 (8.8%)	54 (9.7%)	275 (9.0%)
Prince Edward Island	148 (5.9%)	42 (7.6%)	190 (6.2%)
Newfoundland	249 (9.9%)	55 (9.9%)	304 (9.9%)
Aboriginal	214 (8.7%)	46 (8.4%)	260 (8.5%)	0.91
Urban residency	1,855 (74.1%)	418 (75.2%)	2,273 (74.3%)	0.64
Highest education				< 0.001
Less than high school	465 (18.6%)	210 (37.8%)	675 (22.1%)
High school	1,139 (45.5%)	221 (39.7%)	1,360 (44.4%)
Non-bachelor certificate	611 (24.4%)	90 (16.2%)	701 (22.9%)
Bachelor’s degree or above	251 (10.0%)	25 (4.5%)	276 (9.0%)
Currently working	1,718 (68.6%)	340 (61.2%)	2,058 (67.3%)	0.001
Married currently/previously	475 (19.0%)	76 (13.7%)	551 (18.0%)	0.004
Living with a child under 15	579 (23.1%)	154 (27.7%)	733 (24.0%)	0.03
Smoking allowed inside home	179 (7.2%)	41 (7.4%)	220 (7.2%)	0.93
Vaping allowed inside home	458 (18.3%)	153 (27.5%)	611 (20.0%)	< 0.001
Physical health				0.30
Excellent	598 (23.9%)	116 (20.9%)	714 (23.3%)
Very good or good	1,740 (69.5%)	401 (72.1%)	2,141 (70.0%)
Fair or poor	162 (6.5%)	39 (7.0%)	201 (6.6%)
Mental health				0.22
Excellent	670 (26.8%)	148 (26.6%)	818 (26.7%)
Very good or good	1,551 (62.0%)	332 (59.7%)	1,883 (61.6%)
Fair or poor	277 (11.1%)	76 (13.7%)	353 (11.5%)
Last vaping involved nicotine				< 0.001
Yes	1,158 (46.3%)	342 (61.5%)	1,500 (49.0%)
No	940 (37.6%)	182 (32.7%)	1,122 (36.7%)
Unsure	405 (16.2%)	32 (5.8%)	437 (14.3%)
Reasons of vaping
Affordable	223 (9.0%)	109 (19.7%)	332 (10.9%)	< 0.001
Allowed at home	318 (12.8%)	144 (26.0%)	462 (15.1%)	< 0.001
Less harmful to oneself	628 (25.3%)	261 (47.2%)	889 (29.1%)	< 0.001
Less harmful to others	633 (25.5%)	256 (46.3%)	889 (29.1%)	< 0.001
Attraction to flavors	786 (31.7%)	327 (59.1%)	1,113 (36.4%)	< 0.001
Help to quit smoking	510 (20.6%)	202 (36.5%)	712 (23.3%)	< 0.001
Don’t smell	333 (13.4%)	146 (26.4%)	479 (15.7%)	< 0.001
Similar to smoking	219 (8.8%)	76 (13.7%)	295 (9.6%)	0.001
Acceptable by non-smokers	575 (23.2%)	226 (40.9%)	801 (26.2%)	< 0.001
Curious	1,995 (80.5%)	359 (64.9%)	2,354 (77.0%)	< 0.001
Others	262 (10.5%)	82 (15.0%)	345 (11.3%)	0.003
Usual place to get e-cigarettes				< 0.001
Purchase by oneself	628 (25.1%)	246 (44.2%)	874 (28.6%)
Borrow/buy from friends/family	1,839 (73.5%)	307 (55.2%)	2,146 (70.2%)
Ever tried one of seven drugs^*	829 (33.1%)	189 (34.0%)	1,018 (33.3%)	0.73
Recreational use of prescription medications
Pain reliever	105 (4.3%)	35 (6.4%)	140 (4.6%)	0.04
Sedatives	320 (12.9%)	79 (14.4%)	399 (13.0%)	0.40
Stimulants	35 (1.4%)	21 (3.8%)	56 (1.8%)	< 0.001
Having smoked 100 cigarettes in lifetime	902 (36.0%)	186 (33.5%)	1,088 (33.3%)	0.27
History of smoking, yr
Mean ± SD	4.1 ± 9.9	3.7 ± 9.1	4.0 ± 9.8	0.30
Median (IQR)	0 (3)	0 (3)	0 (3)	0.02
Type of cigarette smoker				< 0.001
Never smoked	1,496 (59.8%)	299 (53.8%)	1,795 (58.7%)
Former smoker	737 (29.4%)	215 (38.7%)	952 (31.1%)
Current daily/occasional smoker	270 (10.8%)	42 (7.6%)	312 (10.2%)
Ever used other tobacco products
Cigar or little cigar	1,556 (62.2%)	362 (65.1%)	1,918 (62.7%)	0.21
Tobacco pipe	304 (12.1%)	82 (14.7%)	386 (12.6%)	0.11
Water pipe	778 (31.1%)	185 (33.3%)	963 (31.5%)	0.34
Chewing tobacco	496 (19.8%)	147 (26.4%)	643 (21.0%)	0.001
Type of alcohol drinker				< 0.001
Never/former drinker	260 (10.4%)	45 (8.1%)	305 (10.0%)
Current light drinker	1,431 (57.2%)	268 (48.2%)	1,699 (55.5%)
Current heavy drinker	683 (27.3%)	203 (36.5%)	886 (29.0%)
Type of cannabis user				< 0.001
Never used cannabis	585 (23.4%)	131 (23.6%)	716 (23.4%)
Former user	1,222 (48.8%)	329 (59.2%)	1,551 (50.7%)
Current user	673 (26.9%)	89 (16.0%)	762 (24.9%)
Perceived vaping/smoking behaviours to have moderate/great health risk
Occasional smoking	1,382 (55.2%)	297 (53.4%)	1,679 (54.9%)	0.49
Regular smoking	2,421 (96.7%)	545 (98.2%)	2,966 (97.0%)	0.11
Occasional vaping	845 (33.8%)	125 (22.5%)	970 (31.7%)	< 0.001
Regular vaping	1,758 (70.2%)	306 (55.0%)	2,064 (67.5%)	< 0.001
Smoking during pregnancy	2,435 (97.3%)	537 (96.6%)	2,972 (97.2%)	0.85
Vaping during pregnancy	2,119 (84.7%)	434 (78.1%)	2,553 (83.5%)	< 0.001

The seven drugs include cocaine, heroin, salvia, hallucinogen, ecstasy, solvent and methamphetamine; IQR: inter-quartile range; yr: year

Supplementary materials

The supplementary materials for this article are available at:

https://www.explorationpub.com/uploads/Article/file/100133_sup_1.pdf

Declarations

Author contributions

RF and MC contributed conception and design of the study; RF obtained access to the dataset, performed the statistical analysis and wrote the first draft of the manuscript; NM contributed to methodology. All authors contributed to manuscript revision, read and approved the submitted version.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

Not applicable.

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent to publication

Not applicable.

Availability of data and materials

The dataset analyzed for this study is maintained by the Computing in the Humanities and Social Science (CHASS) at the University of Toronto available from: http://datacentre.chass.utoronto.ca/

Funding

This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Catalyst Grant #172898. The funder had no role in the study design, collection, analysis or interpretation of the data, writing the manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication.

Copyright

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