Teenage Vapers, 5 Times More Likely to Have COVID-19
A new study says that teenagers who vape or smoke may be putting themselves at higher risk of getting infected with COVID-19.
Stanford University researchers said that from a national sample of adolescents and young adults, the use of e-cigarettes and dual use of e-cigarettes and cigarettes are substantial in causal risk factors for COVID-19.
The said research, published in the Journal of Adolescent health this week, was conducted through the use of a web-based survey of more than 4,300 teens and young adults in the United States whose ages range between 13 and 24.
Participants of the said survey were all asked about their use of both e-cigarettes and cigarettes for the past 30 days and even their lifetime.
They were also asked if they have experienced the COVID-19 symptoms or were tested positive with the virus. While the connection between the two was anticipated, the results were still striking.
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Authors' Findings
The study authors found that a COVID-19 diagnosis was five times more likely among those using e-cigarettes, and seven times more likely in teenage and adult individuals using both cigarette and e-cigarettes.
Respondents who had smoked both in the past 30 days were reportedly almost five times more likely to exhibit COVID-19 symptoms.
According to Stanford University pediatrics professor Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, the study's result was higher than expected.
One of the study's key authors, Halpern-Felsher, said, "I was not surprised by the findings." However, the expert also said he was not expecting to see up to seven times higher risk of COVID-19 diagnosis.
An expert in teens and vaping, Ilona Jaspers found the data compelling, saying that the result is novel and of considerable effect, although potentially not surprising.
Jaspers, who is also a pediatrics and microbiology & immunology professor at the University of North Carolina, added that while such a finding is aligned with what many of us suspected, the data involved in the study provides vital evidence. This backs the probable association of vaping with the increased risk of COVID-19.
Exposure to E-Cigarettes
The study may not have entirely explored the reason that the use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes may lead to higher risk in individuals.
However, according to Jasper, "Part of it may boil down to immune function." Numerous other studies in the past have found that vaping leads to a general dominance of immune reactions in the lung.
Studies in rodents have also associated exposure to e-cigarettes with amplified vulnerability to, and seriousness of other respiratory infections like influenza.
Halpern-Felsher explained that as declining immune function may certainly contribute, there are other aspects of vaping that resulted in an increased risk of COVID-19 infection.
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Sharing of E-Cigarette Devices, another Factor
Halpern-Felsher also said that perhaps smoking or vaping increases exposure to the said infectious disease as more often than not, youth frequently share e-cigarette devices.
At times, youngsters also practice hand-to-mouth action from which they tend to touch their hands and the virus. Halpern-Felsher also emphasized that the huge cloud of aerosol could carry a virus in it, then be inhaled deep in the lungs.
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Aug 12, 2020 11:46 PM EDT
