Since the first Surgeon General’s Report was released in 1964, scientific evidence on smoking and disease has expanded, linking exposure to tobacco smoke with an ever-increasing number of diseases and adverse health consequences. Although the smoking rate has been cut roughly in half since the 1964 report, smoking is still the single greatest cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in the United States. A Surgeon General's Report carries significant weight and importance in the field of public health because its findings are based on a thorough search of the scientific literature that is pertinent to the topic under consideration.

The 2016 Surgeon General’s report, E-Cigarette Use Among Youth and Young Adults, explores the effects of the substantial increases in the use of emerging tobacco products in the youth population in recent years. The report focuses on the history, epidemiology, and health effects of e-cigarette use; the companies involved with marketing and promoting these products; and existing and proposed public health policies regarding their use. It also describes strategies that tobacco companies use to recruit youth and young adults to try and continue using e-cigarettes; and outlines interventions that can be adopted to minimize the harm to youth of e-cigarettes.

As with the previous reports, AIR is assisting in the development of the 2018 and 2019 reports, including coordination among staff, expert scientific editors, authors, and reviewers; contractual, publishing, and editorial support; and governmental review and clearance.