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Tag: teens & vaping

  • 1 In 3 Teens Affected By Secondhand E-Cigarette Vapor

    1 In 3 Teens Affected By Secondhand E-Cigarette Vapor

    Children in vaping households are being exposed to many of the tobacco toxicants in cigarettes, but at lower levels. How this will affect future health is still uncertain.

    As the popularity of vaping continues to increase among teens, so does the number of middle and high schoolers exposed to it secondhand.

    According to new research, roughly one in three teens said they breathed in vape clouds from other users last year. This is up from the year before, when a relatively fewer one in four breathed the same, says research published in JAMA Network Open.

    This new research was based on data collected by the National Youth Tobacco Survey on secondhand inhalation of tobacco smoke or e-cig vapors by middle and high schoolers, taken from the year 2015 to 2018.

    Who Is Most Affected?

    According to this data, the groups most affected by secondhand vape inhalation were white, female, lived with a vape user, or were vape users themselves.

    This incredible growth in secondhand inhalation is in spite of proactive strategies by authorities. As reported by the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation, “16 states and more than 800 municipalities have introduced laws to restrict e-cigarette use in 100% smoke-free or other venues, including schools, over the past few years.” 

    This, researchers propose, is because public opinion hasn’t yet turned against vapes the same way it has against traditional tobacco products.

    “This may be owing to the increase in youth using pod-based e-cigarettes and other devices, fewer vape-free policies than smoke-free policies, and fewer people who are willing to speak up against others vaping in public places,” wrote researchers.

    Youth Vaping Epidemic

    According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated one in five high schoolers and one in 20 middle schoolers use vapes. In terms of hard numbers, the amount of middle and high schoolers using vapes went from 2.1 million to 3.6 million between 2017 and 2018, representing an increase of roughly 1.5 new teen vapers. The massive change is reflective of the overall switch from smoking to vaping in the United States in general.

    This is largely due to the perception that smoking is less healthy than vaping. While vaping may expose you to fewer chemicals than smoking, “We still don’t know the long-term health effects and most people generally think that they’re safer than smoking cigarettes, so they’re not too worried about exposing others to secondhand vapor,” said Dr. Theodore Wagener of the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.

    Now, Dr. Wagener has just completed a yet-to-be published study on how vaping affects the children living in vaping households.

    “We definitely know that they’re being exposed to many of these tobacco toxicants that we saw with cigarettes but it appears to be just at lower levels,” said Dr. Wagener. “What that means for downstream health, we still don’t know. I wish we did.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Do Teens With Mental Health Issues Vape To Self-Medicate?

    Do Teens With Mental Health Issues Vape To Self-Medicate?

    A recent study examined the association between teenage mental health issues and combustible cigarette use.

    A study recently published in Pediatrics found that teens with mental health issues are more likely to use e-cigarettes.

    Researchers surveyed 7,702 adolescents ages 12 to 17 and found that those with “externalizing problems” such as “rebelliousness and sensation-seeking” were more likely to smoke both standard combustible cigarettes and e-cigarettes, while those with internalizing problems such as anxiety and depression were only more likely to use e-cigarettes.

    “Our results are in line with existing literature that suggests a stronger connection between externalizing problems, like rebelliousness and sensation-seeking, and combustible cigarette use, than between internalizing problems and combustible cigarette use,” said study leader Kira Riehm, MSc, to MedPage Today.

    Studies have demonstrated an association between mental health issues and combustible cigarette use. As e-cigarette use increases among underage teens to the point of being called an “epidemic” by some health experts, researchers are beginning to look into how mental health plays into the growing trend of vaping.

    The findings that teens who use e-cigarettes are more likely to have internalizing mental health problems but not externalizing could suggest that vaping is more of a way to self-medicate for anxiety, depression and related issues rather than simply trying something that has become trendy.

    This could be related to the current availability of information on the risks of smoking combustible cigarettes paired with a lack of information about the risks of e-cigarettes and prevalent myths.

    Studies on teens’ knowledge of vaping risks and even what’s in their e-cigarettes came up with alarming results, including the fact that a significant number of teens were unaware that there was any nicotine in their vaping products. This problem has repeatedly landed the nation’s biggest e-cigarette company, Juul, in hot water. 

    Juul has been accused of marketing to teens with colorful packaging and fruity flavor packs that make smoking more attractive to young people. The popularity of these products, which Juul claims are meant only for adults who are trying to transition away from combustible cigarettes, is largely responsible for an increase in nicotine use among teens after years of decline.

    For kids with mental health problems, e-cigarettes represent a two-way street, says Boston Children’s Hospital’s Dr. Nicholas Chadi.

    “We have to be careful when we think of e-cigarettes as substances because it falls in the bigger picture of substance use in general,” said Chadi. “This is a two-way highway, where people with mental health problems are more likely to start using these substances, but the reverse is also true—people who start using these substances also have increased chances of developing mental health symptoms.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Vaping Rates Double Among Teens, While Opioid Use Declines

    Vaping Rates Double Among Teens, While Opioid Use Declines

    Results from the 2018 Monitoring The Future survey show that teens have turned to vaping nicotine and marijuana and away from binge drinking and opioid use. 

    The percentage of teens who reported vaping nicotine nearly doubled this year, representing the largest increase in use of a substance since the national Monitoring the Future study began. 

    “To put the nicotine vaping increase in context, it is the largest out of more than one thousand reported year-to-year changes since 1975 for use of substances within the 30 days prior to the survey,” according to a press release from the University of Michigan, which conducts the annual survey of about 50,000 8th, 10th and 12th graders. 

    About 20% of high school seniors reported vaping nicotine in the past 30 days. In addition, more than a quarter of teens reported vaping “just flavoring,” but researchers believe these students may be confused or ill-informed about what they’re consuming, since many popular vaping devices don’t have nicotine-free options. Marijuana vaping also increased. 

    “Teens are clearly attracted to the marketable technology and flavorings seen in vaping devices; however, it is urgent that teens understand the possible effects of vaping on overall health; the development of the teen brain; and the potential for addiction,” Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse said. “Research tells us that teens who vape may be at risk for transitioning to regular cigarettes, so while we have celebrated our success in lowering their rates of tobacco use in recent years, we must continue aggressive educational efforts on all products containing nicotine.”

    Overall, 28.5% of high school seniors reported using nicotine of some variety in the past 30 days. Tobacco use was down slightly in 2018 but not a statistically significant amount. This shows that prevention efforts need to target teens who may see vaping as a safe alternative to smoking. 

    “Vaping is reversing hard-fought declines in the number of adolescents who use nicotine,” said Richard Miech, the lead author and investigator of the study. “These results suggest that vaping is leading youth into nicotine use and nicotine addiction, not away from it.”

    He said vaping is popular because it is easy to conceal. 

    “If we want to prevent youth from using drugs, including nicotine, vaping will warrant special attention in terms of policy, education campaigns, and prevention programs in the coming years,” Miech said.

    The survey found that binge drinking and use of opioids and tranquilizers decreased significantly, while use of other drugs, including meth, marijuana and molly remained stable. 

    “With illicit opioid use at generally the lowest in the history of the survey, it is possible that being in high school offers a protective effect against opioid misuse and addiction,” Volkow said. “We will be focusing much of our new prevention research on the period of time when teens transition out of school into the adult world and become exposed to the dangerous use of these drugs.” 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • FDA Cracks Down On Top E-Cig Brands To Curb Teen Vaping Epidemic

    FDA Cracks Down On Top E-Cig Brands To Curb Teen Vaping Epidemic

    Around 1,300 warning letters have been sent to retailers of e-cigarettes found to be illegally selling e-cigarette products to minors.

    The Food and Drug Administration, concerned about the rising numbers of teenagers who “vape,” is cracking down on major e-cigarette brands to try and stop this trend.

    In a press release issued on Wednesday (Sept. 12), the FDA announced that it is requesting major brands—JUUL, Vuse, MarkTen, Blu, and Logic—to submit plans to “immediately and substantially reverse these trends” of young people vaping.

    If they do not comply within 60 days, the agency “may require the companies to revise their sales and marketing practices, to stop distributing products to retailers who sell to kids and to stop selling some or all of their flavored e-cigarette products until they clear the application process,” according to CNBC.

    The latest crackdown is the result of a nationwide undercover sweep over the summer. Since then, 1,300 warning letters have been sent to retailers of e-cigarettes found to be illegally selling e-cigarette products to minors.

    The vast majority of the violations were for the illegal sale of JUUL, Vuse, MarkTen, Blu and Logic—which account for over 97% of the U.S. e-cigarette market.

    Initially, e-cigarettes were touted as a less harmful alternative to traditional cigarettes for people who want to quit. But growing use among young people is now a concern for the FDA.

    “In enabling a path for e-cigarettes to offer a potentially lower-risk alternative for adult smokers, we won’t allow the current trends in youth access and use to continue, even if it means putting limits in place that reduce adult uptake of these products,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb in the press release.

    “We see clear signs that youth use of electronic cigarettes has reached an epidemic proportion, and we must adjust certain aspects of our comprehensive strategy to stem this clear and present danger,” Gottlieb declared, going on to say that promoting smoking cessation can’t come “at the expense of kids.”

    “We cannot allow a whole new generation to become addicted to nicotine,” he added.

    In the coming weeks, the FDA said it will take additional action under its Youth Tobacco Prevention Plan, and ramp up enforcement of the illegal sale of these products to kids.

    View the original article at thefix.com