Synthesis links youth vaping to higher smoking risk and health harms

A sweeping new synthesis of the available evidence concludes that young people who vape are consistently more likely to become smokers and to experience a range of health and behavioural harms. The analysis, which combines 56 reviews covering hundreds of individual studies, finds that youths who use electronic cigarettes are about three times as likely to start smoking later, with additional associations to asthma, respiratory infections, mental health problems, and the use of alcohol and cannabis. While researchers caution that much of the data are observational and cannot prove causality, they say the pattern is strong enough to justify precautionary public health measures and tighter regulation of vaping products aimed at minors.

The umbrella review examined thousands of prospective and cross-sectional studies from around the world, concentrating on whether vaping in adolescence acts as a gateway to tobacco use and other adverse outcomes. Across studies, youths who vape were more likely to move on to cigarette smoking, to smoke more heavily, and to encounter a spectrum of health issues. Asthma emerged as the most consistently linked condition, with elevated risks of asthma...