Vaping increases asthma among teens and adults

Article by Bruce Sylvester.

Vaping by teens and adults appears to be related to an increase in the likelihood of developing asthma and experiencing asthma attacks, researchers reported on May 14 at the ATS/American Thoracic Society 2021 International Conference.

“To curtail the adverse health effects of vaping we should raise the awareness of the potential harmful health effects of vaping, and develop and implement evidence-based strategies to prevent and reduce e-cigarette use, especially in youth,” said investigator Theresa To, PhD, senior scientist in the Child Health Evaluative Sciences program at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.   “We should also provide means and support to help those who currently vape to quit,” she added.

The investigators evaluated retrospectively information collected from the 2015-2016 and 2017-2018 cycles of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), a national survey using self-reported data about health status, health determinants, and behaviors.

They matched five non-user control subjects to each subject reporting use of electronic cigarettes. They matched subjects by survey cycle, age, sex, province of residence, local health unit, body mass index, household income, education, mental health, smoking history and life stress.

The study included 17,190 matched subjects drawn from 222,949 survey respondents. And 16.7% of these matched subjects had used electronic cigarettes in the past 30 days.

The researchers found a 19% increase in self-reported asthma among electronic cigarette users, compared to non-users.

Current electronic cigarette smokers had 20% higher risk than non-users of developing asthma. Former electronic cigarette smokers had 33% higher risk.

Subjects who had never smoked or used e-cigarettes showed no significant association with asthma.

Among those with asthma, electronic cigarette users had 29% higher risk than non-users of having had an asthma attack within the last 12 months.

The authors concluded, “Current EC [electronic cigarette] use is associated with significantly increased odds of having asthma, that is comparable to current smokers. These findings suggest that EC use is a modifiable risk factor for asthma to be considered in the primary care of youth and young adults.”