Vaping makes teenagers more vulnerable to COVID-19, says Stanford-led study

• A new Standford-led study now says children who vape face increased risk of coronavirus.
  
• The research found that those who vaped were five to seven times more likely to be infected than those who did not use e-cigarettes.
  
• According to the study, young people who had used both cigarettes and e-cigarettes in the previous 30 days were almost five times as likely to experience COVID-19 symptoms.
  

Ever since the beginning of coronavirus, scientists have claimed that young adults and children have reported fewer cases in comparison to adults. However, a new Standford-led study now says children who vape face increased risk of coronavirus.

"Teens and young adults need to know that if you use e-cigarettes, you are likely at immediate risk of COVID-19 because you are damaging your lungs," said the study's senior author, Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, PhD, professor of pediatrics.

Among young people who were tested for the virus that causes COVID-19, the research found that those who vaped were five to seven times more likely to be infected than those who did not use e-cigarettes. The researchers used survey data collected from 4,351 participants ages 13 to 24 who lived in all 50 states in America.


“Young people may believe their age protects them from contracting the virus or that they will not experience symptoms of COVID-19, but the data show this isn't true among those who vape," said the study's lead author, postdoctoral scholar Shivani Mathur Gaiha, PhD.

The study, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, is the first to examine connections between youth vaping and COVID-19 using the US population-based data collected during the pandemic.

The researchers recruited a sample of participants that was evenly divided between those who had used e-cigarettes and those who had never used nicotine products. The sample also included approximately equal numbers of people in different age groups (adolescent, young adult and adult), races and genders.

"This study tells us pretty clearly that youth who are using vapes or are dual-using [e-cigarettes and cigarettes] are at elevated risk, and it's not just a small increase in risk; it's a big one," Gaiha said.

According to the study, young people who had used both cigarettes and e-cigarettes in the previous 30 days were almost five times as likely to experience COVID-19 symptoms, such as coughing, fever, tiredness and difficulty breathing as those who never smoked or vaped. Hence, according to Halpern-Felsher, they were the ones who got tested in May when many regions limited COVID-19 testing to people with symptoms.


Depending on which nicotine products they used, and how recently they had used them, young people who vaped or smoked, or both, were 2.6 to nine times more likely to receive COVID-19 tests than nonusers.

Among the participants who were tested for COVID-19, those who had ever used e-cigarettes were five times more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 than nonusers. Those who had used both e-cigarettes and conventional cigarettes in the previous 30 days were 6.8 times more likely to be diagnosed with the disease.

“The researchers did not find a connection between COVID-19 diagnosis and smoking conventional cigarettes alone, perhaps because the prevalent pattern among youth is to use both vaping devices and traditional cigarettes. Other research has shown that nearly all nicotine-using youth vape, and some also smoke cigarettes, but very few use cigarettes only,” Halpern-Felsher said.

In addition to warning teenagers and young adults about the dangers of vaping, the researchers hope their findings will prompt the Food and Drug Administration to further tighten regulations governing how vaping products are sold to young people.

"If you are a vaper, you are putting yourself at risk for COVID-19 and other lung disease," Halpern-Felsher said.

SEE ALSO:
Trump was rushed from the briefing room by Secret Service after a shooting outside the White House
McKinsey, Facebook, Amazon, Nokia — and some other companies looking for a product manager right now
A WhatsApp message, six weeks of talks and a $300 million deal – how Karan Bajaj sold his less than 18-month old startup White Hat Jr to Byju’s