E-cigarette use is associated with a self-reported diagnosis of prediabetes in never cigarette smokers: Results from the behavioral risk factor surveillance system survey

•Participants were never cigarette smokers (less than 100 cigarettes in lifetime).•Participants had no history of diabetes, gestational prediabetes or diabetes.•There was an association between current e-cigarette use and prediabetes.•There was no association between former e-cigarette use and prediabetes. The use of e-cigarettes is increasing in the US but there is still a paucity of research on the metabolic effects of e-cigarette use. The goal of this work was to determine the association between e-cigarette use and self-reported prediabetes in adult never cigarette smokers. The 2017 cross sectional Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey data was used for the analysis. Current e-cigarette users reported daily or someday use of e-cigarettes and former e-cigarette users reported no current use of e-cigarettes. Participants who reported a history of diabetes, gestational prediabetes/ diabetes were excluded. Odds ratios were calculated to determine the association between e-cigarette use and self-reported prediabetes in never cigarette smokers after adjusting for potential confounders. There were a total of 154,404 participants that met the inclusion criteria. Of those participants, there were 143,952 never, 1339 current and 7625 former e-cigarette users. Current e-cigarette users had an increased odds of reporting a diagnosis of prediabetes 1.97 (95% CI 1.25–3.10) compared to never e-cigarette users. After stratifying by gender, men and women had an increased odds ratio of reporting a diagnosis of prediabetes 2.36 (95% CI 1.26–4.40) and 1.88 (95% CI 1.00–3.53) respectively when compared to never e-cigarette users. There was no association between former e-cigarette use and a self-reported diagnosis of prediabetes. Our findings show that e-cigarette use may be associated with self-reported prediabetes. Further evaluation is needed in prospective studies.