A study presented at the International Congress of the European Respiratory Society, held in Barcelona, Spain, points out that adolescents with parents who smoke are 55% more likely to try e-cigarettes.
The work, conducted by a team from the Tobacco Free Research Institute of Ireland (TFRI, for its acronym in English), also draws attention to the growth in adherence to the devices by young people in the country. In Brazil, although the sale of so-called “vapes” is prohibited, the use is also on the rise among teenagers.
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The new study analyzed data from a survey of 6,216 Irish teenagers aged 17 and 18. The results showed that those with smoking parents were 51% more likely to try conventional cigarettes, but the probability reached 55% in relation to electronic models, which are more attractive to younger people.
In addition, the researchers analyzed information from other databases on the topic, with reports from more than 10,000 16- and 17-year-olds, and found that the proportion of young people in the age group who have used vapes in Ireland – country where the devices are legal to sell – increased from 23% in 2014 to 39% in 2019.
In Brazil, where the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) banned the sale of electronic cigarettes in 2009, a decision that was kept in deliberation this year, 22.7% of adolescents aged 16 to 17 have already tried the devices. According to the latest edition of the IBGE’s National School Health Survey (PeNSE), this percentage is 13.6% in relation to young people aged 13 to 15 years. Among the adult population, a survey by Datafolha estimates that 3% make use of the product.
Factors that encourage use
The Irish study also pointed out that the main reasons that have led young people to use the devices – also known as “pods” – were curiosity, for 66% of respondents, and the influence of friends who already used e-cigarettes, for 29% of teenagers.
Only 3% reported having joined the product to replace the conventional model – a strategy that is used by companies as an argument for releasing the devices. In addition, while in 2015, only 32% of young people said they had never tried the traditional cigarette before the electronic model, this number grew to 68% in 2019.
“We found increasing use of e-cigarettes among Irish teenagers and this is a pattern that is emerging in other parts of the world. There is a perception that “vapes” are a better alternative to smoking, but our research shows that this does not apply to teenagers who have generally not tried traditional cigarettes before e-cigarettes. This indicates that, for teenagers, devices are a path to nicotine addiction, not out of it,” said Luke Clancy, director general of TFRI and professor at Trinity University in Ireland, in a statement.
By avoiding the discomfort caused by the burning of the cigarette to combustion and adopting varied flavors, the “vapes” have had a strong adhesion among the younger ones. The researchers responsible for the study point out that this leads to a concern about the creation of nicotine dependence and call for more effective regulatory measures to protect children and adolescents from the devices.
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