Integrative Review shows Health Harms to Youth from E-Cigarettes
Livingston JA, Chen C, Kwon M, et al. Physical and mental health outcomes associated with adolescent E-cigarette use. J Pediatr Nurs. 2022 Feb 1;64:1-17. Online ahead of print. “The methodology for this integrative review was based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines… To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to address e-cigarette use, have samples that were between 13 and 24 years of age, be published in a peer-reviewed journal, and examine health outcomes associated with e-cigarette use. After the screening process, 18 studies were included.” https://www.pediatricnursing.org/article/S0882-5963(22)00019-7/fulltext
“Physical health outcomes associated with e-cigarette use included oral health and respiratory problems as well as nicotine dependence. Mental health outcomes included depression and suicidal ideation. In studies that compared e-cigarette use to conventional cigarette use and non-use, e-cigarettes tended to be associated with more problems than non-use, but fewer problems than conventional cigarette use. Dual-use, that is, use of both conventional cigarettes and e-cigarettes was associated with the greatest harm.”
Comment: Dual use of e-cigarettes is the most common in studies of longer use. Thus, e-cigarette use produces harm to adolescents initially and in the long term, and is not recommended as a population cessation measure because other measures are more effective.
Stephen Hamann
