According to a study conducted in the United Kingdom and the United States, the use of electronic cigarettes affects the likelihood of an increase in smoking.
The results of two studies conducted in the United Kingdom and the United States, published in the journal Tobacco Control, showed that young smokers who start smoking in late adolescence may be at risk of continuing and heavy smoking.
Despite national differences in the regulation and marketing of e-cigarettes in the two countries, the results of the study showed that e-cigarettes can “deepen smoking patterns” according to research known as the ‘entrenchment hypothesis’. “
They noted that the prevalence of smoking among teens has decreased significantly in recent decades, however, youth who start smoking before the age of 15 are particularly vulnerable to developing nicotine dependence.
In this sense, to explore whether and how concurrent use of e-cigarettes might affect the future smoking patterns of this group, they followed a nationwide survey of 1,893 adolescent smokers and non-smokers in the United Kingdom and the United States. were based on.
The participants were periodically surveyed about their vaporizer use and how often they smoked traditional cigarettes until they turned 17, Europa Press Agency reports.
Among teenagers who smoked for the first time in the UK, 57% said they also used vapers, compared to 58% in the US. By late adolescence, those who smoked at the same time as vaping “were more likely to continue smoking,” he said.
Among UK participants, 61% of early smokers were still smoking in their late teens, compared with 50% of non-smokers. The equivalent figures for participants from the United States were 42% and 24%, respectively. Meanwhile, first-time smokers in adolescence were 45% more likely to continue smoking into late adolescence than nonsmokers in the US and 119% more likely than nonsmokers in the UK.
and persistent tobacco use by late adolescence – defined as more than six cigarettes a week or at least 27 cigarettes a month – in UK first-time smokers (37%) compared with non-smokers was almost double. (2.3%).
Overall, the likelihood of becoming a frequent smoker in late adolescence was twice as high among early concurrent smokers compared with nonsmokers in early adolescence in the UK. And in the United States, early concurrent smokers were five times more likely to become frequent smokers versus non-smokers than non-smokers in their early teens.
“These results are consistent with the hypothesis that e-cigarettes anchor adolescent smokers to use tobacco more frequently, in a later pattern of continuing at a younger age,” explain the researchers.
However, the introduction of e-cigarettes “does not mark the transition to smoking cessation among today’s young people in both the UK and the US.”
They noted that “these results contrast with studies of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation among adults, underscoring the need for further study of adolescent early smokers.” “Comprehensive measures should be taken to reduce adolescent access to e-cigarettes, especially to reduce the likelihood of youth entering smoking at an early age,” they concluded.
