Association of electronic cigarette use with initiation of combustible tobacco product smoking in early adolescence
This study investigated whether trying e-cigarettes is linked to starting to smoke. Researchers used a group of over 2,500 never-smoking 14-year olds to find out.
What it Found
Students who’d tried vaping were more likely to have smoked six or twelve months later, in comparison to those who’d never vaped.
The media quickly jumped on the gateway angle, with headlines like “E-cigarette use may be gateway to conventional smoking”
What’s Wrong With It?
Regular vaping and smoking were not assessed: the term “use” means “tried at least once.”
So the research doesn’t show that teens become addicted to nicotine through vaping and then progress to regular smoking. It just shows that teens who experiment with nicotine in one form are more likely to try it in another form, too.
The authors even note that the study can’t determine that e-cigarettes caused the smoking.
Although they tried to control for them, there are inherent differences between non-smokers who try vaping and ones who don’t. These “confounding” variables are likely to be responsible for the results.
Analysis of the Study
· Clive Bates: JAMA paper finds some adolescents experiment with stuff – so what?
· Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos: A new study finding e-cigarettes are gateway to smoking? Not really
· Professor Linda Bauld: Young people and e-cigarettes: what we know so far
