Is vaping linked to chronic stress in teens and young adults?

Young people who have used e-cigarettes are more than twice as likely to report experiencing chronic stress, according to research Dr Teresa To from the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Canada.

‘Research is starting to show how vaping affects young people’s physical and mental health,’ she said. ‘For example, our previous research has shown that those who vape are more likely to suffer an asthma attack. In this study we were particularly interested in the relationship between vaping, mental health and quality of life among young people.’

The researchers used data from the Canadian Health Measures Surveys, a national survey designed to represent the Canadian population. It included 905 people aged between 15 and 30 years, of which 115 (12.7%) said they had used e-cigarettes.

The data showed that although young people who vaped were more likely to be physically active, they were also more likely to report experiencing extreme chronic stress in their lives.

‘Chronic stress can lead to mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. It’s important for young people experiencing chronic stress to be given support early on to help them avoid resorting to unhealthy coping mechanisms like vaping or smoking,’ Dr To said. ‘Vaping is not an effective way to cope with stress, but stress and anxiety can trigger vape cravings, and make it harder for a user to quit.’

The researchers point out that while their study shows a link between vaping and stress in young people, it does not show whether stress caused an increase in vaping, or whether vaping increased experiences of stress, or if another factor led to an increase in both.

However, their research did consider other factors that are known to influence stress, such as income, alcohol consumption and health conditions like asthma and diabetes.

‘We do not know why young people using e-cigarettes tend to be more physically active, but it could be that they are trying to control their weight with exercise and believe vaping could help,’ she added.

Professor Elif Dağlı, who is chair of the European Respiratory Society’s group on tobacco, smoking control and health education, and was not involved in the research, said: ‘Vaping is still relatively new, but the numbers of children and young people using e-cigarettes are rising rapidly. We need more research on the impacts of vaping, but we also need to raise awareness of the harms of using e-cigarettes and provide support to help young people avoid or quit vaping.’