ACTGHS e-cigarette use, 16+

Commentary

Respondents to the 2021 ACT General Health Survey aged 16 years and over were significantly more likely to report that they have never used e-cigarettes (84.4%) and being ex-users (9.5%) than being daily/occasional users (6.2%). There was no significant difference between males and females in any of the categories in 2021. Respondents aged 16 to 24 years (56.6%) were significantly less likely to report that they have never used e-cigarettes than respondents aged 25 to 44 years (80.4%), 45 to 64 years (92.8%)and 65 years and over (97.7%) and significantly more likely to report being ex-users (24.6%) than respondents aged 45 to 64 years (5.3%).

Question not asked in 2019.

For the purpose of reporting the ACT General Health Survey data on HealthStats, if the 95% confidence intervals of the estimates do not overlap, they are considered to be significantly different.

Note: The indicator shows self-reported data collected through Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI). Estimates were weighted to adjust for differences in the probability of selection among respondents and were benchmarked to the estimated residential population using the latest available Australian Bureau of Statistics population estimates.

Persons includes male, female, other and refused sex respondents and may not always add to the sum of male and female.

The following estimates have a relative standard error between 25% and 50% and should be used with caution:

• 2015/16: persons who are daily/occasional e-cigarette users
• 2015/16: females, respondents aged 25 to 44 years, 45 to 64 years and 65 years and over who are ex e-cigarette users
• 2018: males and respondents aged 25 to 44 years who are daily/occasional e-cigarette users
• 2018: respondents aged 45 to 64 years who are ex e-cigarette users
• 2020: persons, males and respondents aged 25 to 44 years who are daily/occasional e-cigarette users
  - 2021: females and respondents aged 16 to 24 years who are daily/occasional e-cigarette users.

The following estimates have not been published due to small numbers or a relative standard error greater than 50%:

• 2015/16: males, females, respondents aged 16 to 24 years, 25 to 44 years, 45 to 64 years and 65 years and over who are daily/occasional e-cigarette users
• 2015/16: respondents aged 16 to 24 years who are ex e-cigarette users
• 2018 and 2020: females, respondents aged 16 to 24 years, 45 to 64 years and 65 years and over who are daily/occasional e-cigarette users
• 2018 and 2020: respondents aged 16 to 24 years and 65 years and over who are ex e-cigarette users
• 2021: respondents aged 65 years and over who are ex e-cigarette users
• 2021: respondents aged 45 to 64 years and 65 years and over who are daily/occasional e-cigarette users.

Statistically significant differences are difficult to detect for smaller jurisdictions such as the Australian Capital Territory. Sometimes, even large apparent differences may not be statistically significant. This is particularly the case in breakdowns of small populations because the small sample size means that there is not enough power to identify even large differences as statistically significant.

Chart

Proportion of adults aged 16 years and over who use e-cigarettes daily/occasionally, are ex-users and have never used them, ACT General Health Survey, 2015-2021

Data

To access the data, select "View source data" link at the bottom of the visualisation. This link will open up a data table that you can download.

Codes and sources

Q. Which of the following best describes how often you use vapes?

Never vaped
Tried vaping a few time but never vaped regularly
Don't vape now, but used to
Vape occasionally
Vape daily
Don't know
Refused

Don't know and refused responses were excluded from analysis.

A copy of the ACT General Health Survey questionnaires can be found in Data collections.