Citation

Rossheim ME, Livingston MD, Soule EK, Zeraye HA, Thombs DL. Tob. Control 2019; 28(4): 472-474.

Affiliation

Health Behavior and Health Systems, School of Public Health, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, Texas, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2018-054518

PMID

30219795

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) battery failure can result in explosions and burn injuries. Previous attempts to quantify these events has been limited to compilations of case studies, federal agency reports and media reports. Although e-cigarette explosions and burn injuries are thought to be rare, current surveillance methods likely underestimate actual occurrences.

METHODS: Analyses were conducted on cross-sectional data from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS). A keyword search of case narrative text was used to identify e-cigarette-related explosion and burn injuries presenting to US emergency departments from 2015 to 2017. Sampling weights were applied to make conservative national incidence estimates.

RESULTS: From 2015 to 2017, there were an estimated 2035 e-cigarette explosion and burn injuries presenting to US hospital emergency departments (95% CI 1107 to 2964).

CONCLUSIONS: There are more e-cigarette explosion and burn injuries in the USA than estimated in the past reports. Improved surveillance of e-cigarette injuries and regulation of e-cigarette devices is urgently needed. NEISS could be a valuable resource for e-cigarette injury surveillance.

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2018. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

Language: en

Keywords

electronic nicotine delivery devices; public policy; surveillance and monitoring