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E-Cigarette Studies Continue to Smoke out Concerns about These Products :

March 8, 2018

We have published so many electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) articles over the past three years in our journal that there is now even a “custom collection” of these articles which can be found on the Gateway portal for AAP publications.

We have published so many electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) articles over the past three years in our journal that there is now even a “Pediatric Collection” of these articles which can be found on the Gateway portal for AAP publications. Yet as soon as we publish one new study, more keep being submitted.  That is why this week we are releasing two new e-cigarette studies this week, well worth your attention.

The first by Rubinstein et al. (10.1542/peds.2017-3557) examined whether toxic volatile organic chemicals were associated with adolescent e-cigarettes smoked in the past month or over their lifetime of smoking.  The study was based on gathering saliva samples collected within 24 hours of e-cigarette use for 8 volatile compounds as well as cotinine if conventional cigarettes were also smoked. While toxic volatile compounds were higher in prevalence in the saliva samples when teens smoked both conventional and e-cigarettes, they were still prevalent in e-cigarette users alone when compared to controls, although in less hazardous amounts than when combined with tobacco smoke. Since we don’t know just how much of these carcinogenic compounds need to accumulate in the lungs to cause deleterious results, this study suggests that we at least alert our teen patients to the potential risks of such exposure despite their belief that e-cigarettes are “healthier” than conventional tobacco products. Neither is good when it comes to exposure to toxic volatile organic compounds.

If the Rubinstein et.al study is not sufficient to raise further concerns about e-cigarettes, there is a second study being released this week by Chaffee et al (10.1542/peds.2017-3594) on the progression of conventional tobacco smoking in those who also try e-cigarettes. While teens may think use of e-cigarettes will slow or eliminate the usage of conventional tobacco smoking, the authors of this study used results from a national survey to show that dual smokers increase their established cigarettes smoking, meaning their achieving at an earlier age ≥ 100 cigarettes in their lifetime. Thus this study myth-busts the perception that established smoking will diminish given the increases seen in this study.  If you’re looking for more evidence of why e-cigarettes are not in the best interest of adolescents trying to quit tobacco smoking, you’ll light up with the findings in both of these studies.  Link to them and see what we mean.

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