E-cigarette have long been seen as either a slightly healthier version of smoking or a tool to help chronic smokers quit smoking. According to a growing body of research, e-cigarettes, like “regular” cigarettes, can be dangerous to your health.
E-cigarette use is increasing, particularly among children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), they are the most often used tobacco product among young people. According to CDC data, 2.55 million American middle and high school students reported using e-cigarettes over the preceding 30 days in 2022, including 3.3% of middle school students and 14.1% of high school students.
A new study from Ohio State University found that kids who use e-cigarettes often have breathing problems right away. What comes next, and how can this be? Here are some things you should know.
The study, which was published in the journal Thorax, looked at data from many survey waves. In 2014, the Southern California Children’s Health Study questioned 2,097 teenagers with a mean age of 17.3 about their use of e-cigarettes, traditional tobacco, and cannabis, as well as any health difficulties they had. Three more waves of surveys were done in 2015, 2017, and 2018. By wave 4, more over 15% of those polled had acknowledged to using e-cigarettes.
In the first round of polling, 23% of teenagers acknowledged to having asthma. Bronchitis symptoms were common in each wave, affecting 19.5% to 26% of research participants, depending on the survey.
E-cigarette usage within the previous 30 days was linked to an increased risk of wheezing, bronchitis symptoms, and shortness of breath.
Individuals who had used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days had an 81% higher incidence of wheezing than those who had never smoked. Compared to nonsmokers, smokers were twice as likely to have bronchitis symptoms and 78% more likely to have shortness of breath.
