Almost half of Big Island public high school students have tried electronic cigarette devices, according to data from a survey released Thursday by the state Departments of Education and Health and the University of Hawaii.
Almost half of Big Island public high school students have tried electronic cigarette devices, according to data from a survey released Thursday by the state Departments of Education and Health and the University of Hawaii.
The 2015 Hawaii State Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a statewide survey monitoring a multitude of behaviors that could present a health risk, polled 6,089 noncharter high school students, including 1,387 from Hawaii Island, and more than 12,000 students from grades 6-12 at noncharter public schools.
One of those findings is that 45.1 percent of high-schoolers statewide and 48.7 in Hawaii County have tried electronic cigarettes, a practice known as vaping.
“I think, in general, this is an alarmingly high number,” said Ranjani Starr, a DOH epidemiologist. “That’s half of all your high school students have tried e-cigarettes, and 29.5 percent, nearly a third of your high school students, are currently using electronic vapor products. And we know that these products are addictive and our children are getting hooked on nicotine.”
The percentage of Big Island high school students who are vaping is almost 4.5 percent higher than the statewide average.
“This is a major issue,” Starr said. “Our numbers may be comparable to the rest of the country, but that doesn’t take away from the significance or the severity of this real emerging issue for us.”
Sally Ancheta, East Hawaii coordinator for the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii, said she’s “not surprised” by the numbers, although a county ordinance passed in 2014 made it illegal to sell tobacco and electronic vapor devices, such as e-cigarettes, e-cigars, vape pipes, vaping pens, e-hookahs and hookah pens to people younger than 21. Ancheta pointed to a “grandfather clause” in the law and said those percentages might decrease in time.
“If you were 18 on July 1 (2014), you could still buy tobacco products. If you were 17, you had to wait until you were 21,” she said. “You had 18-year-olds who could still get tobacco products who younger friends still might be able to get them from in early 2015, when the data was collected. The county law was still new on the island.”
Ancheta and Mariner Revell, owner of Irie Hawaii smoke shops and opponent of the tobacco ban, don’t agree on much, but do see eye to eye on one thing — that flavorings in some e-liquids used in vaping devices are what young folks seem to find attractive about vaping. Ancheta said the array of flavors make vaping store counters “seem more like an ice cream shop.”
Revell says the statistics prove “the 21-and-over law doesn’t work” and said there’s “miseducation of the public when it comes to vaping.”
“Would you rather have them smoking cigarettes or would you rather have them vaping?” Revell asked. He said the documentary movie “A Billion Lives” shows “how the vaping industry is actually saving lives.”
“It really hit home for me because my dad died of smoking cigarettes in 2012,” he said, and added most people he knows who vape use it to wean themselves off tobacco, although a new federal law that goes into effect in August prohibits advertising the sale of electronic vapor products as a smoking cessation method.
Other topics covered in the survey include unintentional injuries and violence; tobacco, alcohol and other drug use; sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection, unhealthy dietary behaviors and physical inactivity. The survey also monitors the percentages of students affected by obesity and asthma.
“This data shows that we are improving as a state in many areas,” Director of Health Virginia Pressler said in a statement. “However, the sharp rise in the use of electronic cigarettes reminds us of the importance of continually monitoring student behavior. We will continue to work in partnership with (DOE) to ensure that our programs and interventions target these emerging issues.”
Another area of concern, according to Starr, is binge drinking by high school students, defined in the survey as having five or more alcoholic drinks within a two-hour period. On the Big Island, 16 percent reported going on a binge at least once in the 30 days before the survey, compared to 13.4 percent statewide.
“The Big Island is comparable to the rest of the country, but it’s higher than the state of Hawaii, as a whole,” she said. The statewide statistic for binge drinking is described in the survey’s report as “a significant linear decrease from 22.7 percent in 1993.”
The survey shows 29.9 percent of Big Island students said they had at least one drink in the 30 days prior to the survey, compared to 25.1 percent statewide. The statewide number is described in the report as “a significant linear decrease from 38.4 percent in 1993.”
Another area of concern is adolescent mental health, the DOH said. In 2015, 29.5 percent of high school students reported feeling sad or hopeless almost every day for two or more weeks in a row at least once in their lifetime. Rates of attempted suicide in the past 12 months have steadily decreased since 1993, but remain what they referred to as “unacceptably high at 11 percent.” On the Big Island, 14.6 percent of respondents reported having attempted suicide in the year prior to the survey.
“We are aware of this data and all of the schools on the island are engaged and have increased efforts to address areas of concern,” Chad Keone Farias, superintendent of the Ka‘u-Keaau-Pahoa Complex Area, said in an email. “A few of our projects and initiatives include increasing mental health services through Youth Mental Health First Aid, and pushing our schools to educate students about healthy lifestyle choices through HMSA’s Blue Zones Project. We don’t expect these changes to happen overnight, but we are making gains at the school, complex and Department levels in many areas.”
The full survey report, including more detailed data reports by county, gender, grade and race/ethnicity, and the survey questionnaires are available at www.hawaiihealthmatters.org.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.