Teens, young adults who report e-cigarette use have increased odds of asthma

Teens and young adults who report current e-cigarette use have increased risk for developing asthma and experiencing asthma exacerbations, according to data reported at the American Thoracic Society International Conference.

“While vaping is thought to be a safer alternative to smoking, emerging research suggests that e-cigarette use may have long-term health effects,” Teresa To, PhD, senior scientist in the Child Health Evaluative Sciences program at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, said during a virtual abstract presentation. “However, to date, knowledge on long-term health effects of e-cigarette use remains limited and unknown.”

The cross-sectional study used data from the Canadian Community Health Survey, which collects self reports on health status, health determinants and behaviors. The study included individuals aged 12 years and older who participated in the 2015-2016 and 2017-2018 Canadian Community Health Surveys and reported e-cigarette use within the previous month. The researchers then identified five nonusers matched by propensity scoring on factors including sex, residence, local health unit, BMI, household income, education, mental health, smoking history and life stress. The cohort included 17,190 matched individuals from nearly 223,000 survey respondents.

Overall, 3.1% of participants reported current e-cigarette use in the past 30 days, “which corresponds to 1 in 32 individuals who smoked e-cigarettes within the past 30 days,” To said while presenting the results.

Approximately 50% of e-cigarette users reported smoking cigarettes daily.

Thirteen percent of e-cigarette users reported having asthma compared with 9% of nonusers, according to the abstract.

When the researchers accounted for other factors associated with asthma, they found that e-cigarette users had 19% higher odds of asthma (OR = 1.19; 95% CI, 1.05-1.34). Former smokers had 33% higher odds of asthma (95% CI, 1.05-1.69) and current smokers had 20% higher odds of asthma (95% CI, 1.02-1.41), according to the abstract.

Among those with asthma, e-cigarette users had 29% higher odds (95% CI, 1.02-1.63) of having an asthma exacerbation in the past 12 months after adjusting for potential confounders, according to the results.

In other results, the researchers reported significantly higher more e-cigarette users who reported fair to poor mental health compared with nonusers (15% vs. 7%). In addition, e-cigarette users had a 60% higher odds of self-reported high stress levels compared with nonusers.

“These findings suggest that e-cigarette use is a modifiable risk factor for asthma to be considered in the primary care of use in adults,” To said.

References:

• To T, et al. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2021;doi:10.1164/ajrccm-conference.2021.203.1.
• Press Release.