Translations:ENDS Youth & Young Adults/47/en

RESULTS: Among the students, 56% had tried an electronic cigarette at least once (boys: 59.9%, girls: 49.3%; ranging from 31.3% for the 8th grade students to 66.1% for the 12th grades). However, only 3.4% reported that they used electronic cigarettes every day. Initiation of e-cigarette use in these teenagers was principally due to use by friends or triggered by curiosity and they usually choose fruit or sweet flavours initially. The majority could not give the concentration of nicotine in e-cigarettes that they used. Moreover, 61.5% of the students had ever tried tobacco and 22.3% were daily smokers. Our study found a strong link between vaping and smoking. 80% of the students who had ever tried conventional cigarettes (94% for the daily smokers) had also tried an electronic cigarette, versus 16% of the students who have never smoked. Few students (6.2%) used electronic cigarettes without smoking tobacco too. Usually, they have tried tobacco before trying an electronic cigarette. Only tobacco smokers seem to smoke electronic cigarettes with nicotine. CONCLUSION: Although our study shows that teenagers frequently try electronic cigarettes, it does not prove, for the moment, that vaping itself usually leads to nicotine addiction. However, as most of the teenagers are unable to tell if the electronic cigarette they are testing contains nicotine, it raises the possibility that they could be vulnerable to manipulation by the tobacco industry.