Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook | Twitter

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The rising number of teenagers using e-cigarettes is worrying some health officials.

The Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth recently released a report showing that middle school and high school use of traditional cigarettes had dropped considerably from 2001.

But executive director Marty Kilgore said e-cigarettes use among teens is "sharply climbing" and more than twice as many high school students use them over traditional cigarettes, a trend she called troubling.

The report also showed that teens are drinking less soda. About 17 percent of teens drank a soda a day in 2015, down from 24 percent in 2011.

(© Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)