The use of electronic cigarettes has been highly controversial, especially because of
A current and damaging belief is that young people are at a significantly lower risk for being seriously affected by COVID-19; yet, data shows that those who vape are at an elevated risk (potentially as much as 5x, compared to those who have never vaped) for experiencing COVID symptoms such as coughing, fever, and difficulty breathing (Digitale, 2020, Gaiha et al., 2020). Additional studies suggest that among those who have been infected with COVID, those with a history of smoking were twice as likely to show disease progression (Gaiha et al., 2020).
This research highlights the necessity to increase education about the dangers of vaping for all age groups, but adolescents in particular. As a group of mainly future healthcare professionals, in the age of anti-vaping campaigns instead of anti-smoking ones, we are presented with this challenge: how can we warn our peers of these dangers? One way is to look at vaping through the COVID-19 perspective. Vaping, like smoking, can be a social activity. Sharing vapes provides coronavirus
References
Digitale, Erin. “Vaping Linked to COVID-19 Risk in Teens and Young Adults.” News Center, 11 Aug. 2020, med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2020/08/vaping-linked-to-covid-19-risk-in-teens-and-young-adults.html.
Gaiha, S. M., Cheng, J., & Halpern-Felsher, B. (2020). Association Between Youth Smoking,
Electronic Cigarette Use, and COVID-19. Journal of Adolescent Health, 67(4), 519–523.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.07.002
Patanavanich, R., & Glantz, S. A. (2020). Smoking Is Associated With COVID-19 Progression: A
Meta-analysis. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 22(9), 1653–1656. https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntaa082
Rice, S. J., Hyland, V., Behera, M., Ramalingam, S. S., Bunn, P., & Belani, C. P. (2020). Guidance on the Clinical Management of Electronic Cigarette or Vaping-Associated Lung Injury. Journal of Thoracic Oncology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtho.2020.08.012
Hey Molly! I think you post is super engaging and definitely very applicable to a fair amount of our generation. While I have not noticed a huge presence of vaping on campus, I do know a plethora of people who do engage in vaping whether it is nicotine, tobacco, or marijuana related. To each their own, but as future healthcare professionals, I feel that it is pertinent that we encourage people to stop vaping as it can have severe consequences later on in life. Although people may deny that they are addicted to it, starting to vape at a young age can increase the chance of adopting other addictions later in life that can have even worse consequences. In terms of your mention of vaping and Covid-19, the sharing of vape pens or devices can most definitely increase ones susceptibility to the deadly virus. Many of the byproducts in vape solution can have similar effects to that of cigarettes, in inhibiting mucociliary clearance, can cause extensive damage to alveoli and induce increased susceptibility to disease. All in all, I do not believe people in our generation really have a good hold on what vaping is doing to their body, and as people who somewhat understand the damage it causes, we should speak out and educate people on the costs of vaping.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the helpful and super infomative post! The fact the you are 5x more likely to devolep symptoms is absoulutely amazing. It is sad to think of how many adolescents are vaping but do not know the risks that they are partaking in. It feels that it has become common knowledge that cigarettes are harmful to your body, while the public oponion is not a consistent on vaping. It is good that the FDA is starting to get involved with this issue and starting to take some action. Thanks for this very socially relevant post!
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