Are more teens switching from vapes to cigarettes? Health official weighs in

Margaret Christopherson, Lafayette Journal & Courier
·5 min read

LAFAYETTE, Ind. − The impact vaping has on adults and teens may hurt one group while potentially helping another.

While studies have shown that utilizing e-cigarettes or vapes can help those who smoke tobacco cigarettes quit smoking, recent data has shown that vaping has skyrocketed nicotine addiction in teens and young adults, according to Tippecanoe County Health Officer, Dr. Gregory Loomis.

"They thought vaping would help people get off of cigarettes," Loomis said, "but actually, since teens have started vaping...about 33 to 35% of sophomores in high school have tried vaping. So they've never really smoked cigarettes.

"So it's an interesting phenomenon that those that vape early on that haven't smoked cigarettes, seem to eventually go to smoking cigarettes. Wherein the older population, vaping seems to help you get off the cigarettes."

A study by Monitoring the Future – an annual drug-use survey of eighth, 10th and 12th grade students conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor – found that in 2019, 16% of 8th graders, 30% of 10th graders and 35% of 12th graders reported vaping.

What is the difference between smoking and vaping?

According to VapingFacts.health, smoking provides nicotine to the smoker by burning tobacco. Vaping delivers its nicotine by heating a liquid that is then inhaled.

Is one more dangerous than the other?

Having a nicotine addiction is not good for one's health, regardless of how one receives it. However, experts state smoking tobacco cigarettes has shown to cause more serious health problems than vaping; so far.

"Cigarette smoking is overwhelmingly the primary cause of lung cancer," an excerpt from the Indiana Cancer Consortium's Lung Cancer document says, "as 80 to 90 percent of lung cancer deaths in the US arerelated to smoking."

Studies on vaping are relatively new. Long-term affects are still yet to be seen as they were invented in 2003 and their popularity arguably peaked in late 2018 to 2019.

That being said, online resources say that vaping does not necessarily directly lead to lung cancer.

"While the long-term effects of vaping are still being studied, research indicates that vaping does not directly cause lung cancer," a 2020 article from the Moffitt Cancer Center says, "However, for individuals who have never smoked before and aren’t planning to, vaping can increase their risk of lung cancer since most vaping liquid contains nicotine and toxic chemicals."

"Both e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes contain nicotine, which research suggests may be as addictive as heroin and cocaine," Dr. Michael Blaha, director of clinical research at the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease wrote. "What’s worse (is that) many e-cigarette users get even more nicotine than they would from a combustible tobacco product: Users can buy extra-strength cartridges, which have a higher concentration of nicotine, or increase the e-cigarette’s voltage to get a greater hit of the substance."

How does it affect people differently?

Often due to addictive characteristics, smokers tend to have trouble quitting. Research points to e-cigarettes being just as addictive, if not more so.

Why has Loomis observed different age groups reacting differently to vaping? The main determining factor of becoming addicted to vaping is seemingly whether or not one smoked first and "weaned" to vaping, or has never smoked and utilized e-cigarettes as the primary source of nicotine.

"Teens (typically today) never smoked for the most part," Loomis said. "Statistically, if you're looking at 33-35% of teens who vape, chances are they're gonna try cigarettes. But are they gonna go back to vaping? I don't think it's been around long enough to really be able to understand that particular aspect of it."

How are Hoosiers affected by smoking?

Loomis noted that Indiana, while not the worst state for smoking rates, is far from the best.

"Obviously, if you look at the coast to coast numbers, there's a lot less smoking per capita per 100,000 people," Loomis said. "...I think overall, Indiana's doing pretty good, but they're not where they need to be. They're not anywhere near Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama; some of the states down south, where you're seeing high levels of smoking."

According to the CDC, Indiana is in the highest category, with 18.5 to 23.8%, of adults using cigarettes as of 2019.

Other notable statistics

  • The national outbreak of emergency department visits related to vaping products is known as: E-cigarette or Vaping Product Use-Associated Lung Injury (EVALI). Over 2,800 hospitalized EVALI cases or death have been reported to the CDC from all 50 states, according to the Indiana Department of Health's Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Annual Report for the State Fiscal Year 2020. In Indiana, there were 60 confirmed cases and 6 deaths (in 2020).

  • E-cigarettes were the most used tobacco product among Hoosier middle school (5.5%) and high school (18.5%) students in 2018.

  • "The tobacco industry spends $293 million to market and advertise its products in Indiana each year, and the vast majority of this money is spent on point-of-sale marketing strategies such as price discounts and in-store advertising," the same report says.

  • Approximately 1,770 Hoosiers die each year from other peoples' smoking, such as exposure to secondhand smoke or smoking during pregnancy.

  • "Approximately 1 in 4 (58 million) nonsmokers in the U.S. are exposed to secondhand smoke, including 15 million children ages 3 to 11 years," the report states.

Indiana is actively working towards a more smoke and vape-free state with a variety of programs and resources for all ages to help quit. Listed below are just a few.

Utilizing these available resources and having a strong support system are some of the best ways to quit smoking or vaping, according to Loomis.

"I think the best way is (to) look at online sources, speak to your physician," Loomis said. "Get put on a program that will help you. Have somebody that you're accountable to - that's always really good."

Margaret Christopherson is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. Email her at mchristopherson@jconline.com and follow her on Twitter @MargaretJC2.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Smoking, vaping trends affected by adults quitting, teens switching