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One-quarter of teenage e-cigarette users 'dripping' liquid nicotine
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Approximately 26% of high school teenagers who use e-cigarettes also use the practice of “dripping” nicotine liquids onto the heating coils rather than inhaling through the mouthpiece, which could increase their exposure to nicotine and toxins.
“Although there is no evidence on the prevalence rates or toxicity of this behavior among adults or youth, Talih et al have shown that dripping e-liquids directly onto the e-cigarette atomizers could expose users to high temperatures and toxic chemicals such as aldehydes,” Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin, PhD, professor of psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote. “Moreover, Kosmider et al have shown that exposure of e-liquids to high temperatures results in significant increases in the levels of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acetone in the vapors.”
To determine reasons behind e-cigarette “dripping” among high school students and the potential prevalence of this behavior, the researchers conducted a survey of students from eight high schools located in Connecticut (n = 7045), examining behaviors and perceptions of tobacco use.
Once completed, Krishnan-Sarin and colleagues assessed the prevalence rate of students ever using e-cigarettes for dripping. They also examined predictors of dripping behaviors in those who had described previous use of e-cigarettes.
According to survey findings, 1,080 students reported ever using e-cigarettes; of those adolescents, 26.1% had used them for dripping. Although the reasons behind this behavior varied, the most popular responses included that dripping created thicker clouds of vapor (63.5%), made flavors taste better (38.7%), produced a stronger throat hit (27.7%) and curiosity (21.6%). Other reasons, including “friends use it,” “tried it once” and “don’t know,” were listed at a lesser percentage (7.5%).
Adolescents who were male, white and/or had tried multiple tobacco products in addition to using e-cigarettes more frequently in the past month were more likely to use dripping than their peers, according to the researchers’ logistic regression analyses.
“Interestingly, many youth report that they use dripping to produce thicker clouds of vapor, which suggests that youth who participate in these alternative behaviors may be those who use e-cigarettes for smoke tricks and vape competitions,” Krishnan-Sarin and colleagues wrote. “Youth also endorsed that dripping produces a better throat hit. We did not specifically assess what flavors are being used by youth for dripping. However, emerging evidence suggests that many flavors contain reactive chemical species that, when vaporized at high temperatures, can form toxic levels of compounds such as carbonyls — for example, formaldehyde.” —by Katherine Bortz
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