Children who vape are much more likely to go on to become smokers, according to a new analysis linking youth vaping to a host of health problems.
Notably, the researchers say that children who vape are not only three times more likely to smoke later in life, but they are also more likely to smoke more often and intensely.
Research from the University of York and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) analyzed 56 reviews on 384 studies on youth vaping. Over 20 of these reviews assessed the use of e-cigarettes in young people and cigarette smoking later in life.
The researchers found a higher risk of respiratory illnesses, like asthma or asthma exacerbation, as well as a higher risk of substance abuse.
The study also discovered a link between youth vaping and pneumonia, bronchitis, dizziness, headaches, migraines, depression, suicidal thoughts, and lower total sperm counts.
Writing in the journal Tobacco Control, the researchers said the data “consistently indicated a significant association between e-cigarette use and later cigarette smoking in young people,” per Sky News.
The authors cautioned that it was difficult to “infer causality” from the review, but said the “repeated strong associations in prospective cohort studies are consistent with a causal relationship.”
Last year, The Dallas Express reported that city officials banned the use of electronic smoking devices in areas across Dallas. The restrictions, which included the use of vape pens, e-cigarettes, and water pipes known as dab rigs, came after a May 2023 recommendation from the City’s Environmental Commission. Vaping, like conventional smoking, is now prohibited indoors or in enclosed areas of the city, within 15 feet of building entrances, at parks, and in any other location designated as nonsmoking.