This is an interesting paper about the use of e-cigarettes and the risk of respiratory illnesses. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the chemicals are harmful eventually. Hence, it only represents a paper for the policy-makers because it involves many statistical gymnastics.
[embeddoc url=”https://www.dropbox.com/s/dpi5yh38xwdk08s/PIIS0749379719303915.pdf?dl=1″ viewer=”google” ]Among people who did not report respiratory disease (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, or asthma) at Wave 1, the longitudinal analysis revealed statistically significant associations between former e-cigarette use (AOR=1.31, 95% CI=1.07, 1.60) and current e-cigarette use (AOR=1.29, 95% CI=1.03, 1.61) at Wave 1 and having incident respiratory disease at Waves 2 or 3, controlling for combustible tobacco smoking, demographic, and clinical variables. Current combustible tobacco smoking (AOR=2.56, 95% CI=1.92, 3.41) was also significantly associated with having respiratory disease at Waves 2 or 3. Odds of developing respiratory disease for a current dual user (e-cigarette and all combustible tobacco) were 3.30 compared with a never smoker who never used e-cigarettes. Analysis controlling for cigarette smoking alone yielded similar results.
Conclusions: Use of e-cigarettes is an independent risk factor for respiratory disease in addition to combustible tobacco smoking. Dual use, the most common use pattern, is riskier than using either product alone.
Association of E-Cigarette Use With Respiratory Disease Among Adults: A Longitudinal Analysis – American Journal of Preventive Medicine
Outright “banning” isn’t the solution because it would only fuel (and perpetuate) the risks that we saw in the prohibition era of 1930.
I am more concerned about the increased risk of cancer.
RadOncNotes 