Dual use of cigarettes, e-cigarettes associated with more severe ocular symptoms in youth
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Key takeaways:
- Adolescents and young adults who reported dual use in the past 7 days had more severe ocular symptoms than all other respondents.
- Dual users also had more severe symptoms than those who had never used either.
Use of both cigarettes and e-cigarettes increased the likelihood of experiencing severe ocular symptoms in adolescents and young adults, according to a study published in JAMA Ophthalmology.
“This study examined U.S. adolescents’ and young adults’ reported frequency and severity of a comprehensive list of ocular symptoms by e-cigarette, cigarette and dual use,” Anne X. Nguyen, MD, from McGill University in Montreal, and colleagues wrote.
In a survey of individuals aged 13 to 24 years, 2,168 reported never using e-cigarettes, 2,183 reported ever using them, 1,092 reported use within the past 30 days and 919 reported use within the past 7 days. Of those who reported ever using e-cigarettes, 55.9% also used cigarettes and were considered dual users.
Of 4,351 participants, 63.8% were girls or women and the mean age was 19.1 years.
According to results, those who reported dual use of e-cigarettes and cigarettes had a higher proportion of severe to very severe ocular symptoms compared with those who exclusively used e-cigarettes or cigarettes.
Respondents who reported dual use within the past 7 days had more severe itching, redness, dryness, glare, blurriness, headaches, redness, burning and more frequent pain than all other respondents.
Further, those who reported having ever used both reported more severe dryness, blurriness and more frequent pain than those who had never used either.
“This cross-sectional study found an association between dual use of e-cigarettes and cigarettes and more severe and frequent ocular symptoms among adolescents and young adults in the U.S.” Nguyen and colleagues wrote. “Further longitudinal studies are necessary to validate our findings.”
They continued, “These findings provide additional reasons to screen, counsel and treat all tobacco users to prevent and reduce ocular symptoms. We recommend that health care clinicians ask all patients about nicotinic product use and counsel and treat those using these products to help prevent and reduce ophthalmologic issues.”
Collapse
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts