Errors in Data Input in Meta-analysis on Association Between Initial Use of e-Cigarettes and Subsequent Cigarette Smoking Among Adolescents and Young Adults

To the Editor I write on behalf of my coauthors to report errors in our article, “Association Between Initial Use of e-Cigarettes and Subsequent Cigarette Smoking Among Adolescents and Young Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis,” that was published online on June 26, 2017, and in the August issue of JAMA Pediatrics.¹

First, we had inadvertently input incorrect transition probabilities of cigarette smoking initiation by e-cigarette use status and, as a result, the wrong unadjusted odds ratio of this initiation from the study by Leventhal et al.² After using the correct data, the correct pooled transition probabilities for cigarette smoking initiation equaled 23.2% for ever e-cigarette users and 7.2% for never e-cigarette users across all studies (not the originally reported 30.4% for ever e-cigarette users and 7.9% for never e-cigarette users). In addition, the correct pooled unadjusted odds ratio of cigarette smoking initiation by ever e-cigarette use equaled 3.83 (95% CI, 3.74-3.91) across all studies (not the originally reported 5.12 [95% CI, 4.41-5.95]).