martes, 15 de septiembre de 2015

E-cigarettes May Affect Teen Tobacco Use - NIH Research Matters - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

National Institutes of Health (NIH) - Turning Discovery Into Health

Contact Us

E-mail: nihresearchmatters@od.nih.gov

Mailing Address:
NIH Research Matters
Bldg. 31, Rm. 5B64A, MSC 2094
Bethesda, MD 20892-2094

About NIH Research Matters

Editor: Harrison Wein, Ph.D.
Assistant Editors: Vicki Contie, Carol Torgan, Ph.D.

NIH Research Matters is a weekly update of NIH research highlights from the Office of Communications and Public Liaison, Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health.

ISSN 2375-9593

E-cigarettes May Affect Teen Tobacco Use

Share on email Share on facebook Share on twitter

At a Glance

Students who reported using electronic cigarettes by the time they started high school were more likely to report later use of traditional tobacco products.
The finding highlights the importance of learning more about how e-cigarettes can affect teen smoking patterns.

Electronic cigarettes—also called e-cigarettes or electronic nicotine delivery systems—are battery-operated devices that deliver nicotine in vapor. These devices heat a liquid solution of nicotine, flavorings, and other chemicals to produce an aerosol that the user inhales, a process called “vaping.” They are often promoted as safer alternatives to cigarettes and other traditional combustible tobacco products. But while e-cigarettes can deliver nicotine with less of the chemicals known to cause cancer, their health effects haven’t been well studied.

E-cigarettes are promoted for their potential to reduce the harms of conventional tobacco use. But they might also serve as a gateway to for adolescents to begin using conventional tobacco products. Credit: Andrea Carpedi/iStock/Thinkstock.

E-cigarettes are marketed in ways that can appeal to nonsmokers, especially children and adolescents. Such young users could become addicted to nicotine, which might lead them to try smoking tobacco products. To investigate these possible links, a team led by Dr. Adam M. Leventhal at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine examined data from a survey of high school students from 10 diverse public high schools in Los Angeles.

Their analysis included more than 2,500 students who reported they hadn’t smoked any tobacco products when first surveyed at the start of ninth grade. After 6 and 12 months, the students were asked about their use of e-cigarettes, combustible cigarettes, full-size cigars, little cigars/cigarillos, blunts, and hookah water pipes. The work was funded in part by NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and National Cancer Institute (NCI). Results were published on August 18, 2015, in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

At the beginning of the study, 222 students reported they had tried e-cigarettes but no smokable tobacco products. The rest had used neither e-cigarettes nor smokable tobacco. During the first 6 months, 31% of those who had used e-cigarettes started smoking tobacco, compared to 8% of those who had never used e-cigarettes. Over the following 6 months, 25% of e-cigarette users reported they had smoked tobacco in the past 6 months, compared to 9% of those who hadn’t used e-cigarettes.

“Recreational e-cigarette use is becoming increasingly popular among teens who have never smoked tobacco,” Leventhal says. “While we cannot conclude that e-cigarette use directly leads to smoking, this research raises concerns that recent increases in youth e-cigarette use could ultimately perpetuate the epidemic of smoking-related illness.”

“While teen tobacco use has fallen in recent years, this study confirms that we should continue to vigilantly watch teen smoking patterns,” says NIDA Director Dr. Nora D. Volkow.

CIENCIASMEDICASNEWS

martes, 15 de septiembre de 2015