Nicotine in e-cigarettes

When ever-users of e-cigarettes were asked whether the last one they used contained nicotine, nearly two-thirds (64.4%^a) said it did, despite nicotine-containing e-cigarettes not being approved for sale in Canada at the time of the survey.^xx This represented a significant increase from 47.8%^b of users in 2015.¹⁷⁴ In 2017, 23.8%^c said the last e-cigarette they used did not contain nicotine. Approximately one in eight users (11.8%^d) did not know whether their last e-cigarette contained nicotine, highlighting the importance of clear product labelling. Use of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes varied significantly by smoking status¹⁷⁵ (Figure 12.19); three-quarters (75.0%^e) of current smokers used e-cigarettes containing nicotine, as well as the majority (64.1%^f) of former smokers, compared to less than half (42.7%^g) of never smokers.

See data table below with 95% confidence intervals.

Figure 12.19 Data table with 95% confidence intervals

Figure 12.19: Responses to “the last time you used an e-cigarette, did it contain nicotine?” among ever users of e-cigarettes, by smoking status, 2017
Smoking status	Yes	Uncertain	No
Daily smoker	76.5 [69.6-83.3]	8.8 [4.2-13.4]	14.7 [9.2-20.2]
Non-daily smoker	71.4 [59.8-83.0]	16.1 [7.2-25.1]	12.5 [5.4-19.5]
Former smoker	64.1 [52.6-75.5]	11.2 [4.3-18.1]	24.7 [13.5-36.0]
Never smoker	42.7 [34.2-51.2]	14.2 [8.0-20.4]	43.1 [35.0-51.1]

Daily smoker: responded "every day" to "at the present time do you smoke cigarettes every day, occasionally or not at all?"
Non-daily smoker: responded "occasionally" to "at the present time do you smoke cigarettes every day, occasionally or not at all?"
Former smoker: smoked “not at all” at the time of the survey, but had smoked 100+ cigarettes in lifetime
Data source: Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey, 2017

As shown in Figure 12.20, while it appears that slightly more male smokers and non-smokers (vs. females) used e-cigarettes containing nicotine, neither difference was statistically significant.^176,177

See data table below with 95% confidence intervals.

Figure 12.20 Data table with 95% confidence intervals

Figure 12.20: Responses to “the last time you used an e-cigarette, did it contain nicotine?” among ever users of e-cigarettes, by sex and smoking status, 2017
Smoking status	Sex	Yes	Uncertain	No
Current smoker	Male	78.9 [72.2-85.7]	10.6 [4.9-16.3]	10.5 [6.1-14.9]
Current smoker	Female	70.1 [60.4-79.7]	11.2 [5.5-16.9]	18.7 [10.8-26.7]
Non-smoker	Male	54.5 [44.8-64.2]	11.0 [5.3-16.7]	34.5 [25.5-43.4]
Non-smoker	Female	48.7 [39.3-58.0]	16.2 [8.6-23.8]	35.2 [26.8-43.5]

Data source: Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey, 2017

95% confidence intervals for in-text estimates

a: 64.4% [59.7-69.0]
b: 47.8% [43.9-51.7]
c: 23.8% [19.8-27.9]
d: 11.8% [8.8-14.8]
e: 75.0% [69.4-80.7]
f: 64.1% [52.6-75.5]
g: 42.7% [34.2-51.2]