Teens and young adults who vape are up to seven times more likely to be infected with COVID-19 than peers who don’t use e-cigarettes, according to a study published Tuesday by the Journal of Adolescent Health.
Young people who used both cigarettes and e-cigarettes were almost five times as likely to experience symptoms of the new coronavirus, including coughing, fever, fatigue and difficulty breathing, as those who never smoked or vaped, the researchers said.
This might explain why they were also more likely to receive COVID-19 testing, given that in May, when the study was conducted, many regions limited COVID-19 testing to people with symptoms.
“The findings are a call-out for youth to not start vaping and, if they are vaping, to get help and quit, especially now during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Halpern-Felsher, a professor of pediatrics at Stanford University.
As many as 4 million American teens use e-cigarettes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Over the past year, nearly 3,000 teens have been hospitalized with a condition called e-cigarette- and vaping-associated lung injury, or EVALI, and dozens have died from damage to the lungs linked with use of the products.
For their research, Halpern-Felsher and her colleagues conducted an online survey of 4,351 young people aged 13 to 24 in May.
