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 From just 8.8% in 2014, the share of vapers who had picked up their
first e-cigarette at age 14 or earlier surged to 28.6% in 2018,
according to researchers who analyzed survey data from almost 27,000
youth.
"Vapers five years ago were starting at later ages than kids who
were vaping last year," said Rebecca Evans-Polce of the University
of Michigan in Ann Arbor, lead author of a report in the American
Journal of Public Health.
Parents need to "be aware that kids as young as 12, 13, 14 are
starting vaping," Evans-Polce said by email. "Conversations with
their children about vaping need to happen earlier than they may
think."
The National Youth Tobacco Survey is administered annually in middle
and high schools across the country. Evans-Polce and colleagues
focused on responses from youth ages 16 to 17, to capture shifts
over time in how often teens had tried vaping before they reached
adolescence.
Among teens who had tried vaping, 63% didn't use e-cigarettes before
age 16 in 2014. But by the end of the study period, only about 43%
of teens who vaped had waited this long to start.
Over the same period, there were no meaningful changes in the ages
at which youth tried traditional cigarettes, cigars or smokeless
tobacco.
The study wasn't designed to determine why young people are trying
vaping at younger ages.
"It may be a combination of factors including kids not seeing vaping
as risky, the flavors that are particularly appealing to kids, and
kids being influenced by their peers, particularly as the behavior
becomes more prevalent among teens," Evans-Polce said.
Kids may also mistakenly believe that vaping is risk-free, even
though e-cigarettes have been linked to respiratory problems, Evans-Polce
added.
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Beyond the risk of breathing problems, teen vaping or other forms of
nicotine exposure can harm brain development and increase the
potential for addiction and challenges with cessation later in life,
said Hongying Dai, a researcher at the University of Nebraska
Medical Center in Omaha, who wasn't involved in the study. It can
also cause inflammation, weaken the immune system, and cause asthma
and other chronic breathing disorders.
"We need to raise the awareness of the harmfulness of e-cigarette
use among parents and the general public," Dai said. "Parents should
discuss with their children about the substances in their vaping,
the harmfulness of vaping, and the health risks related to vaping."
Big tobacco companies, including Altria Group Inc, Lorillard Tobacco
Co and Reynolds American Inc, are all developing e-cigarettes. The
battery-powered devices feature a heating element that turns liquid
containing nicotine and flavorings into a cloud of vapor that users
inhale.
Even when e-liquids don't contain nicotine, the lungs are still
exposed to flavoring chemicals when the vapors are inhaled. While
many of the flavorings are considered safe to eat, some previous
research suggests that inhaling vapor from these chemicals may
damage the lungs, blood vessels and heart.
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/397C4n6 American Journal of Public Health,
online December 19, 2019.
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