Young people who use electronic cigarettes or vape report increased respiratory symptoms, including wheezing and shortness of breath, compared to those who don’t use e-cigarettes, according to a new study.
The use of electronic cigarettes has increased in recent years among adolescents and young adults. Use of these products produces aerosols that contain volatile chemicals, including flavorings and oxidant metals with known lung toxicity. Detailed studies of the association of e-cigarette use with respiratory symptoms have been limited.
In the study, researchers evaluated the associations of e-cigarette use with self-reported respiratory symptoms in a group of over 2,000 U.S. teens during a series of annual surveys across a 4-year time span. The participants were part of the Southern California Children’s Health Study between 2014 and 2018.
The odds of wheezing among the participants were 81% more likely among those who used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days than among those who never vaped. Similarly, the odds of bronchitis-like symptoms were twice as likely in users, while those of shortness of breath were 78% more likely after adjusting for age, sex, race, and other factors. The findings remained statistically significant even after further adjustment for concurrent use of cigarettes and cannabis and secondhand exposure to e-cigarettes, cigarettes, and/or cannabis.
Published in journal Thorax, the study was funded in part by the NHLBI.