An international team of health researchers from different universities and institutions recently concluded that there is "very low certainty" for the commonly held belief that vejpning is a gateway to cigarette smoking among young people.
"Evidence from our study, however, suggests possibly the opposite," says Professor and lead author Jamie Hartmann-Boyce.
"One of the big concerns from parts of the public health community about vejpning is that it may encourage more young people to take up smoking,"
That's what Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, assistant professor of health policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and lead author of the article recently published in the journal 'Addiction', told Medicalxpress magazine.
"Some - but not all - evidence from our study suggests possibly the opposite - that vejpning may contribute to youth smoking reduction, particularly in the US," adds Hartmann-Boyce.
Data from 123 studies
The study with the neat little name "Association between electronic cigarette use and subsequent smoking among young people: a systematic review and meta-analysis" was conducted by researchers from several institutions. In addition to Hartmann-Boyce, co-authors included Monserrat Conde and Rachna Begh, based at the University of Oxford in the UK. The study included data from 123 studies with approximately 4 million participants under the age of 29 from the United States, Canada and Western Europe.
The results can be interpreted in different ways, the researchers say, emphasising that the issue is very complex and controversial. At the individual level, it was observed that young people who used vejp were more likely to start smoking compared to those who did not use e-cigarettes at all. However, it is unclear whether this is due to a cause-and-effect relationship, known as causality, or whether other factors are at play.
Smoking decreased as vejp increased
At the same time, some data indicate that, as the use of vejp increased among young people, smoking rates decreased. If the scenario was reversed, it showed similar results; as e-cigarettes became less available, smoking increased among young people.
But some individual results in the study also pointed to the opposite. Hence the caution in Hartmann-Boyce's statement, that it "possibly suggests the opposite".
"The design of the studies and ethical considerations make it difficult to draw definitive conclusions" say the researchers.
They therefore emphasise the need for more robust research to understand the complex relationships between e-cigarette use and traditional smoking among young people.
