E-Cigarettes And Teenagers: Ninth Graders More Likely To Smoke Regular Cigarettes After

Health officials are still debating whether electronic cigarettes are really that much better for you than regular smoking. Yet a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health reveals that students who smoke E-cigarettes by the ninth grade are more likely to start smoking traditional cigarettes and other combustible tobacco products within the very next year.

The study examined the tobacco use initiation among 222 students who had used e-cigarettes but not combustible tobacco products, as well as 2,308 who had neither used e-cigarettes or combustible tobacco products when initially surveyed at the start of the ninth grade.

In the first sixth months after being surveyed, 30.7 percent of those who had used e-cigarettes started using combustible tobacco products, including hookahs, cigarettes and cigars, compared to about 8.1 percent who had never used e-cigarettes. Throughout the next six months, however, leading into the start of 10th grade, 25.2 percent of e-cigarette users had used combustible tobacco products compared to about 9.3 percent of nonusers.

"While teen tobacco use has fallen in recent years, this study confirms that we should continue to vigilantly watch teen smoking patterns," said NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow, M.D., in a news release. "Parents and teens should recognize that although e-cigarettes might not have the same carcinogenic effects of regular cigarettes, they do carry a risk of addiction."

Data was collected as part of a longitudinal survey of substance use and mental health among high school students in Los Angeles that surveyed students from 10 public high schools selected based on their diverse demographic characteristics and proximity. Researchers asked 2,530 students about their e-cigarette, combustible cigarette, full-size cigars, little cigars/cigarillios, hookah water pipes and blunts in the past six to 12 months. 

"Recreational e-cigarette use is becoming increasingly popular among teens who have never smoked tobacco. Adolescents who enjoy the experience of inhaling nicotine via e-cigarettes could be more apt to experiment with other nicotine products, including smokeable tobacco," said Adam M. Leventhal, Ph.D., associate professor and director of the Health, Emotion, & Addiction Laboratory at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and first author on the study. "While we cannot conclude that e-cigarette use directly leads to smoking, this research raises concerns that recent increases in youth e-cigarette use could ultimately perpetuate the epidemic of smoking-related illness."

However, more studies will be needed in order to determine if the observed link between e-cigarettes and smoking initiation is causal.

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the Journal of the American Medical Association. 

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