A person uses a Juul vaporizer in Atlanta, Georgia, Sept. 26, 2019.
Elijah Nouvelage | Reuters
Young persons are vulnerable to experiencing significant respiratory symptoms, including bronchitis and shortness of breath, after just 30 days of electronic cigarette use, in keeping with a latest study released Tuesday.
Researchers from the Center for Tobacco Research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Southern California Keck School of Medicine used 4 years of knowledge from online surveys to look at the health impact of e-cigarettes — which create a vapor containing nicotine and other harmful substances — on teens and young adults.
They said the study, partly funded by the National Institutes of Health, contributes to existing evidence that e-cigarette use is related to an increased risk of respiratory symptoms. Drug regulators should consider the findings and work to reduce the negative health impact of e-cigarette use on young people, the researchers added.
E-cigarettes have hooked a latest generation on nicotine in lower than a decade, putting the health of tens of millions of youngsters, teens and young adults in danger while threatening years of progress in reducing youth tobacco use.
E-cigarette usage is now substantially higher amongst youths and young adults than it’s amongst adults overall within the U.S., in keeping with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sales of e-cigarettes jumped nearly 50% in the course of the first two years of the Covid pandemic, mainly driven by disposable products in sweet and fruity flavors which have long been popular amongst teens.
That surge in sales got here despite a federal crackdown that placed more restrictions on the marketing and flavors of tobacco products.
Manufacturers are still flooding the market with 1000’s of addictive products which are often sold illegally. Brands akin to Puff Bar, Elf Bar and Breeze Smoke aren’t approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and a few have surpassed vaping pioneer Juul in popularity.
“A vital point for consumers is just that e-cigarettes aren’t risk-free,” Alayna Tackett, a pediatric psychologist and researcher on the Center for Tobacco Research. “We absolutely wish to eliminate the initiation and use of e-cigarettes amongst young people. I believe that is a critical public health goal.”
She noted that the study examines only teens and young adults, and that within the demographic of all adults, people “often switch from using cigarettes to using e-cigarettes with likely fewer risks.”
“I believe we must be thoughtful about policies to guard those young people, while also supporting adults who’re eager about selecting a potentially less harmful alternative to cigarettes,” Tackett added.
What does the info say?
Researchers followed greater than 2,000 young individuals with a mean age of 17.3 years from the Southern California Kid’s Health Study.
In 2014, they asked the participants to finish an internet survey about their respiratory symptoms and e-cigarette, traditional cigarette and cannabis use. Around 23% of participants reported a history of asthma on the time of the initial survey.
Researchers collected follow-up data from the vast majority of those participants during three additional survey waves, in 2015, 2017 and 2018.
Participants were specifically asked in the event that they had ever used each of the three products. In the event that they indicated yes, they were asked concerning the variety of days that they had used a product prior to now 30-day period.
Those that had never tried a product were classified as “never users,” while participants who had used a product on at the very least one in every of the past 30 days were classified as “past 30-day” users.
Past 30-day e-cigarette users were at an 81% higher risk of experiencing a symptom called wheeze than never users after accounting for survey wave, age, sex, race and parental education. Wheeze was defined as wheezing or whistling within the chest within the previous 12 months.
Past 30-day users were also at a 78% increased risk of experiencing shortness of breath and a 50% higher risk of experiencing symptoms of bronchitis, an infection of the essential lung airways that causes them to grow to be irritated and inflamed.
A saleswoman helps a customer as she shops for an electronic cigarette on the Vapor Shark store in Miami.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
The link between e-cigarette use and respiratory symptoms was barely weaker when researchers accounted for 2 aspects: co-use of e-cigarettes with traditional cigarettes or cannabis, and secondhand exposure to any of the three products.
For instance, past 30-day e-cigarette users were at a 41% higher risk of experiencing wheeze than never users if additionally they used traditional cigarettes or cannabis at the identical time or experienced secondhand exposure to any of the products.
“Wheeze was not significantly related to the respiratory symptoms related to e-cigarette use after we controlled for co-use of cigarettes and cannabis,” Tackett said. But she noted that bronchitis symptoms and shortness of breath remained significant.
The link between e-cigarette use and respiratory symptoms was persistent in a sub-analysis that excluded participants with a history of asthma. That indicates that the negative health effects of e-cigarette use were present in all participants, not only those with asthma, in keeping with the study.
Tackett noted that there are limitations to the study that future research could address.
Additional studies could more objectively measure respiratory symptoms and product use as a substitute of using surveys that participants filled out themselves, in keeping with Tackett.
She added that future studies, including one she’s currently working on, could further assess the “complex relationship” between the usage of e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes or cannabis.