Study reveals e-cigarettes can be ‘gateway’ to cigarettes for teens with no prior intention to smoke

E-cigarette use is related to the next threat of cigarette smoking amongst adolescents who had no prior intention of taking on typical smoking, recommend the findings of a brand new examine.

These findings have robust implications for observe and coverage, researches say.

Cigarette smoking stays a number one preventable reason for morbidity and mortality within the United States. And whereas adolescent cigarette smoking has declined over the previous a number of a long time, e-cigarette use presents a brand new threat for nicotine use dysfunction.

“Research is showing us that adolescent e-cigarette users who progress to cigarette smoking are not simply those who would have ended up smoking cigarette anyway,” says Olusegun Owotomo, M.D., PhD, M.P.H., the examine’s lead writer and a pediatric resident at Children’s National Hospital. “Our study shows that e-cigarettes can predispose adolescents to cigarette smoking, even when they have no prior intentions to do so.”

In one of many first theory-guided nationally consultant research to determine which adolescent e-cigarette customers are at most threat of progressing to cigarette smoking, Researchers checked out knowledge of greater than 8,000 U.S. adolescents, ages 12-17, who had by no means smoked. The knowledge was collected by the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) examine, an NIH and FDA collaborative nationally consultant potential cohort examine of tobacco use, from 2014-2016. Among adolescents who didn’t intend to smoke cigarettes sooner or later, those that used e-cigarettes have been greater than 4 instances extra more likely to begin smoking cigarettes one 12 months later in comparison with those that didn’t use e-cigarettes.

E-cigarette use constitutes a comparatively new threat issue for nicotine use dysfunction amongst U.S. adolescents. A 2019 examine from the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention discovered that 28% of highschool college students and 11% of center college college students have been present e-cigarette customers. With the latest emergence of newer and probably extremely addictive e-cigarette merchandise, adolescents who use e-cigarettes are at elevated threat of growing nicotine use dysfunction and progressing to smoke typical cigarettes.

“Abstinence from e-cigarettes can protect teens from becoming future smokers and should be framed as a smoking prevention strategy by all concerned stakeholders,” says Dr Owotomo.

“Pediatricians are best positioned to educate patients and families on the clinical and psychosocial consequences of e-cigarette use and should support education campaigns and advocacy efforts geared to discourage adolescent e-cigarette use.”

(This story has been printed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content.)

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