There is no evidence that vape may cause young people to smoke

An analysis combining 17 studies to investigate whether vape use was associated with subsequent smoking showed that the evidence that vape use may cause young people to smoke is not as strong as it seems.

Research findings conducted by researchers from the University of Bristol Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group (TARG) with the support of the MRC Integrated Epidemiology Unit (IEU) and NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Center (BRC) in Bristol , Young vape users who do not smoke are almost five times more likely to smoke than ordinary people.

However, these findings do not provide conclusive evidence about the so-called possible "gateway effect" or the theory that fogging causes smoking. "Policymakers have used the results of research, including the research we conducted in this study, to support strict regulation of vapes, including restrictions on fragrances and even a comprehensive ban, but evidence shows that the use of vape may It is not as strong as it seems to cause young people to smoke. "Said Jasmine Khouja, a doctoral student in the TARG School of Psychological Sciences.

The research team found some research-related problems in the analysis, and concluded that smoking is not suitable for vape. Although the association between vape use by non-smokers and subsequent smoking seems strong, the available evidence is not reliable because the data was collected through self-report measurements of smoking history rather than biochemical verification.

In addition, none of the studies included negative controls that will show whether the association is causal. For this reason, experts who have reduced the harm of tobacco have long pointed out that the correlation between cigarettes and vape cannot be considered as a causal relationship, that is, because personality factors also need to be considered. Young people have a higher tendency to experiment than other age groups. Moreover, those who tend to experiment with personality types may be involved in a variety of substances, including vapes and regular cigarettes.

The researchers added: "Many evidence has not considered the nicotine content of vapes used by non-smokers, which means that it is difficult to draw conclusions about whether nicotine is the mechanism that causes this association." They concluded that future Research should address the issues that have been highlighted, and analyze the correlation between vape and smoking by using more advanced tests.

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