Exposure to E-Cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Product Promotions Among Vietnamese Students Aged 13

Exposure landscape for youth tobacco products in Vietnam: study framework and key signals

• A national cross-sectional analysis using 2022 Global Youth Tobacco Survey data from Vietnam focused on schoolchildren aged 13–15, encompassing 3,873 participants from secondary and high schools.
• The investigation aimed to quantify exposure to promotional messages for electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and heated tobacco products (HTPs) and to describe preventive harm messages, while examining associations with exposure and product use.

• Descriptive assessment quantified exposure to promotional content versus preventive messages related to e-cigarettes and HTPs.
• Logistic regression evaluated links between demographic factors, exposure to messages, and self-reported current use of e-cigarettes/HTPs.
• The analysis differentiated exposure sources (social media, websites, television/radio, etc.) and examined their distinct associations with use.

• Overall exposure to promotional messages was relatively low, at 18.3% of students.
• Among those exposed, a substantial share encountered promotions via social media, representing 10.9% of the total sample.
• Higher weekly pocket money correlated with greater promotional exposure, with thresholds of US$0.90 or more per week (odds ratio [OR] 1.37; 95% CI 1.07–1.75) and US$2.20 or more per week (OR 1.51; 95% CI 1.16–1.95).
• Parental smoking increased exposure risk (OR 2.50; 95% CI 1.31–4.78).
• Current users of e-cigarettes/HTPs also showed higher exposure (OR 2.58; 95% CI 1.56–4.30).

• Seeing promotions on social media platforms was strongly associated with current e-cigarette/HTP use (OR 2.9; 95% CI 1.7–5.0).
• Promotion exposure on websites carried a similar association (OR 3.4; 95% CI 1.4–8.3).
• Overall, promotional exposure appeared to align with higher odds of current e-cigarette/HTP use.

• Preventive messages were more commonly encountered (66.9% of students) but did not exhibit a statistically significant protective effect against e-cigarette/HTP use.
• Exposure via social media did not confer a clear protective advantage (OR 0.8; 95% CI 0.4–1.5).

• The results emphasize a gap in protective impact from current preventive communication, especially given pronounced digital promotional exposure.