Triangulating youth tobacco use and product appeal for rapid surveillance: Findings from three online surveys

Understanding youth tobacco use, is essential to informing timely regulatory and public health responses. Triangulating traditional nationally representative survey results with more rapid and flexible survey data can provide important interim surveillance opportunities to confirm prevalence trends and timely opportunities to respond to observed changes. This paper reports on the generation of rapid surveillance data on youth tobacco use by triangulating three exemplar online survey data sources: two U.S. nationally representative Ipsos surveys (Ipsos-1: n = 1039 youth ages 15–20 in November–December 2024; Ipsos-2: n = 921 with youth ages 13–17 in February–March 2025) and a Qualtrics survey ( n = 930 youth ages 13–17) in six sentinel U.S. states in March–May 2025. Findings demonstrate consistency across surveys, with e-cigarettes being the most prevalent product among youth (5.6–14.6 %), while other product use was low, including nicotine pouches (1.3–2.6 %). Popular brands (e.g., Geek Bar®, Juul®), appeal of e-cigarette characteristics (e.g., ability to use discreetly), and perceptions of colorful devices (e.g., less harsh, better tasting) versus plain/black/Gy devices were recurrent themes, suggesting that rapid surveillance can effectively identify and monitor trends in real time. These insights underscore the need for continued agile surveillance systems and tailored regulatory strategies focused on youth-attractive e-cigarette features. • Rapid and flexible surveillance of tobacco use among youth is vital for regulation. • E -cigarettes were the most commonly used product in all surveys. • Nicotine pouch use was uncommon in all surveys, and numerous brands were used. • Colorful e-cigarettes, versus black, were viewed as less harsh and better tasting.