More than four in 10 Kentucky adults under age 30 have tried electronic cigarettes, and the older and better off economically Kentuckians are, the less likely they are to have tried them. Overall, one-fourth of Kentucky adults and 60 percent of current smokers have tried the devices.
Those are major findings of the latest Kentucky Health Issues Poll, which also found that 61 percent Kentucky adults want the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate e-cigarettes and 53 percent want them to be taxed in the same way as traditional cigarettes.
The poll, taken Oct. 8-Nov. 6, has an error margin of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. It was conducted by the Institute for Policy Research at the
University of Cincinnati. A random sample of 1,597 adults from throughout Kentucky was interviewed by telephone, including landlines and cell phones.
The poll was conducted for the
Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky and the Cincinnati-based
Interact for Health nonprofit. ?Last year, Kentucky became one of dozens of states to prohibit the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors,? Susan Zepeda, president and CEO of the foundation, noted in a news release.
The poll didn't ask respondents if they were currently using e-cigarettes, but the data offer some interesting details: Men (29%) were more likely than women (20%) to have used an e-cigarette, and college graduates (14%) and were
less likely than others (27%) to have done so. So were residents of the Lexington area, at 16%. Among those who said they previously smoked cigarettes, 19 percent said they had tried the electronic version.
As might be expected, current smokers those who had used an e-cigarette were much less likely to say the devices should be taxed like tobacco cigarettes.
The sudden increase in use of electronic cigarettes has prompted questions about whether they actually help people quit smoking. A study published online in the American Journal of Public Health found that individuals who use e-cigarettes are actually...
More than a third of Kentucky adults say they didn't go to a dentist last year, and one in six said they hadn't in five years or more, according to the latest Kentucky Health Issues Poll. The results show the challenges Kentucky adults who are...
Routine dental care is essential to overall health, but a new poll shows 1.7 million Kentucky adults do not have dental insurance. That is more than times the number of people who will be at Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby, notes the Foundation...
Nearly three in 10 working-age adults in Kentucky are not covered by any form of health insurance, and the number who get health insurance from their employer, or their spouse?s employer, has plummeted since 2008, the first year of the Great Recession,...
Though three of four Kentuckians admit to talking on the phone while driving, just as many would support a law banning cell phone use while operating a vehicle, the Kentucky Health Issues Poll has found. "Although most Kentucky adults use their cell...