Cigarettes Popular With Teens Could Lead to Tobacco Smoking

Researchers said the findings do not prove e-cigarettes act as a gateway to tobacco use.

“While it is possible that some adolescents are using e-cigarettes instead of cigarettes, our data suggest that e-cigarettes may be recruiting new tobacco product users who might not have used cigarettes”, said lead author Jessica Barrington-Trimis, PhD, a professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California. Between 2011 and 2014, use of the devices tripled among U.S. middle school and high school students.

The UCLA researchers surveyed 2,048, male and female 11th- and 12th-graders from a variety of ethnic groups in Southern California. For the teens who have someone in their circles already using e-cigarettes, the chances that they pick up vaping are 104 times higher than for their peers who don’t know anyone using an e-cigarette.

There were 18.7% (n=390) who had smoked a standard cigarette, with 5.7% (n=119) describing themselves as current users.

The worrying percentage of teens that are drawn to e-cigarettes has increased to 40 percent.

SAN RAFAEL, CA – JANUARY 28: Rhiannon Griffith-Bowman smokes an E-Cigarette at Digital Ciggz on January 28, 2015 in San Rafael, California.

However, he also said the consequences of that experimentation are not clear. “It’s vapor, similar to the fog you might see at rock shows”.

The agency hopes to expand its authority over e-cigarettes – a move that could put a national ban on sales to minors and require federal approval of all e-cigarette devices and the flavored nicotine “juices” used in them.

“E-cigarettes often contain nicotine, so they may induce sort of a psychological dependency on nicotine and then may lead to future cigarette use”, Barrington-Trimis explained.

The Pediatrics study is more evidence of how common e-cigarettes have become in a short period of time.

But there’s a third possibility for teens.

“We are seeing adolescents who might not smoke a conventional product – because of the health risk and social stigma – using e-cigarettes”, he said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has more on e-cigarettes.

Certainly, a few teens fall into each of these categories, but the question is how long-term trends pan out, especially given two other findings in the study.

The study also found that most kids who used e-cigarettes also had friends or family members who used them.

“The reason teens may be unaware of any health risks may be due to the lack of aggressive public health awareness campaigns on the topic”, said Jennifer LeComte, DO, medical director of Christiana Care Health System’s Transitions and Pediatric Practice.

“In addition, continued research into factors that lead to e-cigarette use, as well as studies examining the individual and population-level implications of high rates of e-cigarette use in adolescent populations are needed”, she concluded.

“I believe that once youth understand the true goal of e-cigarettes, they will appear much less glamorous, as youth will come to realize that e-cigarettes are essentially a crutch for smokers who are so addicted that they can not quit using nicotine altogether”, Siegel said. “The greater concern”, Rees said, “is the potential for tobacco manufacturers to target young adult e-cigarette consumers – who may be vulnerable to tobacco-industry messaging because of their dependence on nicotine”.

The study also underscored the importance of a teen’s environment in use of e-cigarettes: 34 percent of teens who use e-cigarettes have another e-cigarette user at home or among their friends.