It appears that if high school students smoke e-cigarettes, they are more likely to start smoking regular cigarettes, study results show.
The students were asked whether they had ever tried e-cigarettes, cigarettes, cigars, pipes or hookah, and how many days each product was used in the past 30 days, said Jessica L. Barrington-Trimis, Ph.D., of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and her associates.
©Thinkstockphotos.com
Data were gathered among high school students participating in the Southern California Children’s Health Study, which resulted in complete data for 152 students who never used e-cigarettes and 146 e-cigarette users. Results showed e-cigarette users were six times more likely to subsequently smoke cigarettes than were those who never smoked e-cigarettes. E-cigarette users were five times more likely to subsequently use a cigar, pipe,or hookah than were those who never smoked e-cigarettes.
“Because e-cigarette use is common in adolescents and young adults, further prospective follow-up of this and other cohorts is needed to determine whether e-cigarette use will increase population rates of cigarette and other combustible tobacco products and their associated burden of disease,” the investigators concluded.
Read the full study in Pediatrics (doi: 10.1542/peds.2016-0379)