Vaping in childhood ‘gateway to cannabis and cigarettes'

Telegraph

11 hours ago

Vaping in childhood is a 'gateway' to cannabis and cigarettes, according to a study.
Experts found 'consistent evidence' that children who vape are three times more likely to go on to become smokers.
They also found links to abuse of substances, including alcohol and cannabis, as well as a higher likelihood of developing asthma and mental health problems.
The researchers, from the University of York and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), analysed all the existing available reviews on youth vaping – also known as an umbrella review – which included 56 reviews on 384 studies.
Some 21 of these looked at the use of e-cigarettes among young people and later cigarette smoking.
The research found vapers were also more likely to smoke more frequently and intensely, and develop breathing problems.
Other harmful links to youth vaping included pneumonia, bronchitis, lower total sperm counts, dizziness, headaches and migraines.
There was also a link identified between depression and suicidal thoughts among young vapers.
It appears to confirm long-held beliefs about the risk of vaping, with US research going as far back as 2017 suggesting vaping acts as a gateway to smoking, after finding teenagers who used e-cigarettes were four times more likely to start using tobacco within a year, according to the University of Michigan.
Dr Rebecca Glover, senior author of the study and assistant professor at LSHTM, said: 'Vaping is having a detrimental impact on the health of young people globally and vaping appears to be a gateway to other substances.
'Our study provides the strongest evidence to date that young people globally face a serious range of physical and psychological harms from vaping and are at higher risk of transitioning to smoking.'
Writing in the journal Tobacco Control, the authors said the data 'consistently indicated a significant association between e-cigarette use and later cigarette smoking in young people'.
They said it was difficult to 'infer causality' from their review, but said the 'repeated strong associations in prospective cohort studies are consistent with a causal relationship'.
Dr Su Golder, an associate professor in health science at the University of York, said: 'The consistency in the evidence is striking. Across multiple studies, young people who use e-cigarettes are more likely to smoke in the future.'
Dr Greg Hartwell, clinical assistant professor at LSHTM, said the transition to smoking 'opens the door to the multitude of harms that conventional cigarettes bring'.
'As the Government's chief medical officer states, marketing vapes to children is always unacceptable, and our review shows exactly why further restrictions on the tobacco industry, who control the vaping market, are so important,' he added.
In June, a ban on disposable vapes was introduced, in part to curb their use among young people. The crackdown on the devices, also known as single-use vapes, makes it illegal for any retailer, from corner shops to supermarkets, to sell them.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will seek to further limit the vapes appeal to children, by restricting flavours and marketing strategies.
Dr Stephen Burgess, a statistician at the University of Cambridge. who was not involved in the research, said the review looked at observational studies and so 'can say that vaping users are more likely to engage in certain behaviours, but whether vaping is truly a cause of these behaviours is beyond the scope of the data'.
'However, the associations demonstrated are both extensive in scope and strong in magnitude – it is clear that vaping users are at higher risk of many diseases than non-users,' he added.