Even ten-year-olds consume e-cigarettes

Children and adolescents use e-cigarettes rather than tobacco

04/16/2015

Although e-cigarettes are touted as a supposedly healthier alternative to traditional cigarettes, but they also pose health risks. In particular, in children and adolescents, the use is therefore extremely critical. A British study now shows that especially children under the age of 11 try e-cigarettes significantly more often than has ever been the case with tobacco. In the trade magazine „BMJ Open“ The scientists from Cardiff University and the University of Glasgow report that among the primary school children surveyed between the ages of ten and eleven, 5.8 percent had already used e-cigarettes. With tobacco, however, only 1.6 percent of the interviewees children had already gained experience.

According to the research team, the use of electronic glow sticks is alarmingly widespread amongst children and adolescents, although only a few (1.5 percent of the respondents) regularly use the e-cigarette. Overall, however, children and adolescents would be much more likely to experiment with e-cigarettes than with tobacco. According to the researchers, 12.3 percent of those aged 11 to 16 had already used e-cigarettes, „There are no differences according to gender, ethnicity or family wealth“ were to be determined.

Around 10,000 children and adolescents interviewed
For their study, British researchers used data from two national representative cross-sectional surveys from 2013 to 2014 to investigate the prevalence of electronic cigarette and tobacco use in children and adolescents in Wales. In doing so, they also examined possible relationships between e-cigarette use with sociodemographic characteristics and tobacco and cannabis consumption. In total, the data were taken into account by 1,601 ten to eleven-year-old schoolchildren and by 9,055 high school students aged between 11 and 16 years. The scientists found that the use of e-cigarettes was more widespread until the age of 14 to 15 years, than the tobacco has ever been before.

Related to tobacco consumption
According to the researchers, the relationship between tobacco consumption and regular use of e-cigarettes was also noticeable. For example, smokers would use e-cigarettes a hundred times more frequently than non-smokers. In addition, adolescents who had already experimented with cannabis increasingly showed regular use of e-cigarettes. Whether the e-cigarettes make children and adolescents more likely to use tobacco, or whether they serve as a substitute for tobacco consumption in any case, can not be deduced from the study results. To what extent the e-cigarettes could contribute to nicotine dependence remains unclear. Further studies are needed to clarify the timing of tobacco use and e-cigarette use, the researchers report.

Health risk with e-cigarettes unclear
In general, the state of research on the health consequences of e-cigarettes is still very patchy. The risks posed by evaporated liquids remain largely open, not least because their ingredients can vary widely. In addition, given the lack of scientific studies, no statements can be made regarding possible long-term health damage from e-cigarettes. There is also some controversy over whether e-cigarettes can serve as an aid to weaning, or whether they may lead children and adolescents to tobacco use. (Fp)