High school smoking fell as e-cigarette use boomed, CDC says

NEW YORK - Teen smoking hit a new low last year while the popularity of electronic cigarettes and water pipes boomed, a government report shows.

The number of high school students who tried e-cigarettes tripled in one year - to more than 13 percent. Water pipes or hookahs were used by 9.4 percent. But smoking of traditional cigarettes plummeted to 9.2 percent from more than 13 percent. That means smoking in high school is less common than e-cigarette or hookah use.

The decline in cigarette smoking "is very dramatic and very encouraging," said Robin Koval, president of Legacy, an anti- smoking organization. The report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mirrors the results of another government-funded study issued in December.

The CDC report is based on a national survey of about 22,000 students at middle schools and high schools, both public and private. Similar trends were found for middle school but at lower levels of use.

Students were asked whether they had smoked or used a tobacco product in the previous 30 days; those who said yes were deemed current smokers.