According to a large study, the average teenage vaper starts using e-cigarettes when they are just 13 years old.
An analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has revealed the e-cigarette epidemic among teenagers in the country.
The results are based on survey data from 2014 to 2021 – originally reported by last month – and included 150,000 responses from American teenagers between the ages of 12 and 18.
It suggests that vape devices have become the gateway to nicotine addiction, with nearly 80 percent of users reporting their first experience with e-cigarettes. This number has remained constant since 2019 and started to increase from around 40 percent in 2016.
One in 10 students who vape reported puffing on the device within five minutes of waking up. Experts warn that this could be a sign of addiction.
Vapers are also using these devices with increasing frequency, with a quarter reporting they use the devices every day – up from 20 percent a year ago.
These devices were touted as a safer alternative to cigarettes when they first hit the market in the 2010s. However, recent studies have shown that they cause comparable damage to the heart and lungs in chronic users.
E-cigarette users often start earlier in life and will do so more often than users of traditional combustible cigarettes,
It is officially estimated that a total of 2.6 million US youth use e-cigarettes, or 14.1 percent of all American children between sixth and 12th graders.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cracked down on fruit-flavored devices some claim are marketed directly to minors, by banning them or severely restricting their sale.
An MGH research team found that adolescent nicotine users who first started using e-cigarettes first puffed at the device at age 13 (dark blue). This is the same median age at first use of combustible cigarettes (orange)
Almost 80 percent of teens who use a nicotine product first started with a vape (dark blue)
In recent years there has been a surge of kids using their vape within minutes of waking up every morning. The MGH research team found that in 2021, 10 percent of users will access their device within five minutes of waking up every day
Two MORE NIH studies show that e-cigarettes are just as bad for the heart as regular cigarettes
Vaping causes “worrying changes” in people’s blood pressure, heart rate and fitness levels, according to research.
Two government-funded studies show that these changes occur even faster in e-cigarette users than in traditional tobacco smokers.
Vaping used to be touted as a safer alternative to cigarettes, which dramatically increases the risk of lung cancer, heart disease, and other chronic conditions. Stacks of evidence over the past few years suggest that the electronic alternatives cause similar harm.
In a study published last month, experts found that vaping and smoking causes people’s heart rates to skyrocket 15 minutes after use, putting the body into “fight-or-flight” mode.
Both groups also suffered a narrowed brachial artery, which is the main blood vessel that supplies blood to the arms and hands.
High blood pressure and narrowed arteries can deprive the heart of oxygen-rich blood and increase the risk of heart disease.
In a second study, researchers performed a series of cardiovascular tests after having participants run on a treadmill for 90 minutes.
Those who smoked or vaped scored significantly lower on all metrics, including how quickly heart rate recovered after exercise and how hard the heart had to work at peak levels.
The lead author of the study, Dr. Christina Hughey, of the University of Wisconsin, said: ‘The exercise performance of those who vaped was not significantly different from those who used combustible cigarettes, although they had been vaping for fewer years than the smokers and smokers were much younger.’
Researchers, who published their findings Monday in JAMA Network Open, collected data from the National Youth Tobacco Surveys from 2014 to 2021.
These are annual reports compiled by the CDC to assess tobacco use among young Americans.
A total of 151,573 responses were included in the eight-year sample, with the researchers assessing trends in how students are introduced to nicotine.
They found that of those who currently use tobacco products, 77 percent said their first exposure was to e-cigarettes. The value has flattened out in recent years after peaking at 78.3 percent in 2019.
In 2014, less than 30 percent of nicotine users had started vaping – a massive shift in their prevalence in just seven years.
This is despite manufacturers’ arguments that the devices are tools to help people quit nicotine – rather than make them addicted.
Meanwhile, less than a quarter of current teenage nicotine users started with conventional combustible cigarettes, down from over 50 percent in 2014.
Children also start relatively young, with the average regular user having first used an e-cigarette by the age of 13 – the same age as cigarettes.
In 2014, kids were almost 15 years old when they first used a vape – signaling another significant downward move.
“E-cigarette use has reversed the long-term decline in tobacco use among US youth and widened the tobacco epidemic by attracting many youth at low risk to initiate nicotine use with cigarettes,” the researchers wrote in the study.
In a worrying sign, the MGH team found that 10.3 percent of users took a hit within five minutes of first waking up.
This is a particularly recent trend, remaining below one percent from 2014 to 2017 and around four percent in 2018 and 2019.
The number of daily users is also increasing. Researchers found that 25 percent of teens who use e-cigarettes puff on their device at least 30 days a week.
This compares to just 20 percent in 2020. The number has steadily increased since data collection began in 2014.
Health officials are warning that vaping has reached the point of an epidemic in America and have taken drastic measures to curb its use.
The number of American teenagers using their e-cigarette daily has gradually increased in recent years (far right). A quarter of teens use their device every day, up from 20 percent in 2020 and 10 percent in 2014
More than 2.5 million US children are using e-cigarettes – half a million more than last year and a reversal of the downward trend of recent years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 2.55 million Americans in middle or high school admit to using the device in the past 30 days. It’s a jump of 500,000, or 24 percent, from 2021. It’s the first increase since the CDC began collecting annual data in 2019
The 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey — which was not included in the MGH study — found that a total of 2.6 million U.S. teens use e-cigarettes.
This is a 24 percent year-over-year increase and the first year-over-year jump since 2019. It’s a significant drop from 2019’s 5.4 million users as restrictions on device sales and the pandemic impacted vaping.
Earlier this year, the FDA banned fruit and mint-flavored e-cigarettes, which many manufacturers have accused of illegally marketing their devices to children.
To stay in the market, each company had to individually apply to allow their products to stay on the shelves and explain how they will ensure their marketing isn’t designed to lure children.
Juul Labs, whose products became the face of the dangerous underage smoking trend after becoming popular in the 2010s, was rejected by the FDA in June.
The devices were temporarily pulled off shelves before the FDA reversed its decision to give the agency time to review more scientific evidence.
More than a quarter, 27.6 percent of users said they use their devices every day.
Recent studies have also highlighted the risks associated with long-term use of the devices.
Two National Institutes of Health studies released last month found that vape use can cause serious heart problems comparable to smoking cigarettes.
E-cigarette use was associated with changes in users’ blood pressure, heart rate and overall fitness level, researchers found.
Some vapers even suffered from a narrowed brachial artery, a large vessel responsible for blood supply to a person’s arms and hands.