Teens using e-cigarettes more likely to take up smoking or smokeless tobacco
A new study offers strong evidence that kids who use e-cigarettes are more likely to take up smoking or smokeless tobacco, researchers say.
Teen boys who vaped were almost three times as likely to start smoking as other teen boys with similar risk profiles and more than two times as likely to try smokeless tobacco, the study from The Ohio State University found. The research was published online this week in the journal
Addictive Behaviors.
Unlike most previous research suggesting a link between vaping and tobacco, this study didn't simply follow young people over time to make a connection between the two behaviors. That's important, because some have questioned the validity of those longitudinal studies, arguing that kids who took up smoking might have done so whether they vaped or not, said lead researcher Brittney Keller-Hamilton, who completed the study as a graduate student and program manager in Ohio State's College of Public Health.