E-cigarette use alone not associated with increased odds of wheezing in adolescents
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
A study found no significant association between e-cigarette use alone and increased odds of wheezing among adolescents aged 12 to 17, according to findings published in JAMA Network Open.
The cohort study used data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study collected between Oct. 19, 2015, and Jan. 3, 2018. Unadjusted data showed an association between e-cigarette use among adolescents without asthma and increased odds of wheezing in the past 12 months, but after adjusting for other variables, the association was not significant, Alayna P. Tackett, PhD, assistant professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, and colleagues reported.
Tackett and colleagues included 7,049 participants from the PATH survey in their study.
“This study highlights the need for more research that includes objective measurements of respiratory health to be conducted,” Tackett told Healio. “Wheeze is just one indicator of many to assess respiratory health. The respiratory system is complex, and it may be that measuring respiratory health more frequently or with other methods — spirometry, biological data assessing inflammatory markers — may help tell us more about the relationship between vaping and respiratory outcomes.”
The researchers collected data at two points — first from wave 3 of the PATH study, which was from Oct. 19, 2015, to Oct. 23, 2016; and then from wave 4, which occurred from Dec. 1, 2016, to Jan. 3, 2018.
About 91% (n = 6,438) of surveyed adolescents reported no e-cigarette use in the past year.
In the unadjusted analysis, the use of e-cigarettes in the last 12 months was associated with wheezing — OR = 1.74 when used in the last year (95% CI, 1.22-2.48); OR = 1.66 when used in the last 30 days (95% CI, 0.86-3.21); and OR = 1.31 when used in the last 7 days (95% CI, 0.63-2.69).
After adjusting the model for demographic factors and other confounding variables, however, the association was not significant — OR = 1.37 when used in the last year (95% CI, 0.91-2.05); OR = 1.35 when used in the last 30 days (95% CI, 0.63-2.880); OR = 0.74 when used in the last 7 days (95% CI, 0.28-1.97).
In a multivariable model, only time spent in close contact with a smoker in the last 7 days was associated with wheezing in the last 12 months (OR = 1.54; 95% CI, 1.22-1.95).
“Reducing secondhand smoke may be a particularly important to discuss with parents,” Tackett said. “In this study, the results suggest that having close contact with current smokers may be more strongly associated with the occurrence of wheezing than e-cigarette use alone.”