Awareness About and E-Cigarette Use Among Adults in 15 Low- and Middle-Income Countries, 2014–2018 Estimates From Global Adult Tobacco Surveys

INTRODUCTION: E-cigarette (EC) use is seldom reported from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We report the prevalence of "awareness" about EC, its use, and distribution of EC use by sociodemographic factors and cigarette smoking (CS) status. AIMS AND METHODS: We analyzed Global Adult Tobacco Survey data in Bangladesh, China, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Ukraine, Turkey, Uruguay, and Viet Nam during 2014-2018. The weighted prevalence of "awareness" (heard about), "ever" (even once), and "current" (daily/nondaily) EC use among never, current, and former cigarette smokers and quit ratios (past smokers/ever smokers) was estimated. Association of EC use with sociodemographic, and CS, was explored by multilevel regression. RESULTS: Overall, prevalence of "awareness," "ever," and "current" ECs use…