E-cigarette use increases odds of developing asthma, COPD
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E-cigarette use among adults was associated with increased odds of developing asthma and COPD, especially among older adults, women and Hispanic Americans, according to new data presented at the CHEST Annual Meeting.
“Studies have evaluated relationship between e-cigarette use and development of obstructive pulmonary diseases, but very few have categorized this relationship in terms of age, sex and race,” Emmanuella I. Onaku, MBBS, senior clinical data manager at Comprehensive Research Solutions, Bethesda, Maryland, said during the presentation.
Researchers pooled data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System in 2016, 2017 and 2018 to evaluate 741,870 participants aged 18 years and older.
Overall, 32,114 (4.3%) participants were current e-cigarette users.
In unadjusted and adjusted analyses, e-cigarette use was associated 87% increased odds of developing asthma and 69% increased odds of developing COPD compared with nonusers.
In addition, e-cigarette use was associated with greater odds of developing asthma or COPD among certain subgroups when modified by age, sex and race. E-cigarette users aged 55 to 64 years (OR = 1.42; 95% CI, 1.22-1.64), women (OR = 1.33; 95% CI, 1.22-1.45) and Hispanic Americans (OR = 1.62; 95% CI, 1.28-2.05) had greater odds of developing asthma. Similar results were observed for COPD, with the highest odds of developing COPD in women (OR = 1.57; 95% CI, 1.43-1.71) and Hispanic Americans (OR = 1.71; 95% CI, 1.28-2.28). E-cigarette users aged 65 years and older had greater odds of developing COPD compared with younger adults (OR = 2.09; 95% CI, 1.81-2.41).
According to Onaku, a major strength of this study was its large population size, but a major limitation included the inability to analyze the intensity, frequency and cumulative e-cigarette use.
“More research is required, especially in the form of empirical studies, to truly characterize this relationship with implications for formulation of health policy,” Onaku said.