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Vaping in childhood has bigger health risks than we’d thought
William D. Carroll is a physician at Staffordshire Children’s Hospital at Royal Stoke, Stoke on Trent, UK, and a medical and health researcher at Keele University, Keele, UK.
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Francis J. Gilchrist is a physician at Staffordshire Children’s Hospital at Royal Stoke, Stoke on Trent, UK, and a medical and health researcher at Keele University, Keele, UK.
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Inhaling gases and chemicals from vapes is associated with a range of risks. Credit: Yana Iskayeva/Getty
Electronic cigarettes, or vapes, were introduced in the 2000s as a tool to help people give up tobacco smoking — a dangerous habit that kills half of lifelong users1. Backed by widespread public-health messages that vaping is 95% safer (see go.nature.com/4ixya3r) than cigarette smoking, manufacturers and some physicians have been keen to extol the virtues of these electronic systems for delivering nicotine to established smokers who are addicted to the substance.
Huge study hints at risks of switching from tobacco cigarettes to vapes
Yet, the safety of e-cigarettes is not well established — even the evidence on which the 95% claim was based is hard to pin down. The health issues associated with e-cigarettes started to emerge a decade ago. As use of vapes has become more widespread, the evidence has become irrefutable. Some of the adverse effects are extremely concerning.
In particular, it has become clear that these products represent an enticing gateway to nicotine addiction for non-cigarette smokers — including children.
A systematic review published in August (for which we are co-authors) identified a range of health consequences for children and young people who vape2. The extent of the likely harmful effects is wider than anticipated, and increasingly evident in the children we see in hospital practice.