Teenagers who use e-cigarettes ‘are more likely to become heavy cigarette smokers’
TEENS who vape are more likely to become heavy cigarette smokers, experts today warned.
Those aged 14 to 16 who regularly use e-cigarettes are much more likely to transition to cigarettes after six months, new findings suggest.
The more a teenager used the devices, the more they were likely to smoke at the end of the study.
More than one in three teenagers aged 14 to 16 in the US uses e-cigarettes.
And past studies have found vaping increases the likelihood a youngster will transition to smoking cigarettes.
But, whether that transition is merely for experimentation, or means a teenager is likely to become a heavy smoker, is unknown.
To arrive at the new findings, researchers analysed data from surveys quizzing more than 3,000 high school students in 10 schools across Los Angeles County.
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They examined the responses at the start of the study in autumn and six months later in the spring of 2014-15.
The questions probed a teenager's use of e-cigarettes as well as traditional cigarettes, frequency and heaviness.
At the beginning of the study, the prevalence rates of vaping or smoking in the past 30 days was low overall.
The researchers found smoking frequency after six months was proportionately greater, and it increased the more a teen vaped to start with.
Dr Adam Leventhal, from the University of Southern California, said: "The role of nicotine and generalisability of these results to other locations and ages, longer follow up periods, and non self-report assessments are unknown and merit further inquiry.
"The transition from vaping to smoking may warrant particular attention in tobacco control policy."
The findings are published in the journal JAMA.