A recent study from researchers at London’s Western University is shedding more light on youth vaping rates among Canadian teenagers.
The study, published in the journal Children in February, found that roughly one-quarter of high school students in Canada reported having vaped in the previous month, with 12 per cent using exclusively nicotine vapes, and 11.3 per cent using nicotine and non-nicotine vapes, or dual-use vaping.
Jamie Seabrook of Brescia University College and Evan Wiley of Western University authored the study, which references data from the 2019 Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey, and a sample of more than 38,000 students across 10 provinces in grades nine through 12.
Seabrook and Wiley note in the study that the aim was to estimate the prevalence of and explore the correlations among past-month nicotine vaping among Canadian high school students.
“We know that youth vaping is a major public health concern in Canada, but often research on vape use collectively gets all lumped together. What we wanted to do was differentiate types of vape users,” Seabrook said in an interview with Global News on Tuesday.
The alarming finding wasn’t just the percentage of high schoolers who reported having used an e-cigarette in the previous month, but the number who reported using nicotine vapes exclusively, Seabrook said.
“With nicotine addiction, we’ve seen things like seizures from nicotine toxicity. Nicotine addiction can also lead to acute pulmonary injury in youth,” Seabrook said.
“(It) also increases the likelihood that if they get addicted to nicotine, that it could unfortunately lead to the initiation of cigarette smoking as well, which was not the intention of vaping in the first place, where the purpose was really to try to get people off of cigarette smoking.”
The study says nearly 15 per cent of Canadians have tried vaping at some point in their lives, according to recent estimates, with a disproportionate level of use being among youth.
Rates of e-cigarette use among adolescents have risen significantly in recent years. Roughly 23 per cent of Ontario high school students reported having used one in the previous year in 2019, according to CAMH’s Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey, compared with 11 per cent in 2017.
As of 2021, the most recent figures from CAMH, 15 per cent of high schoolers reported having used an e-cigarette in the previous year, a decline that could be attributed to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In their study, Seabrook says they found that age increased the odds of nicotine use, with students in grades 10 to 11 more likely to vape exclusively with nicotine compared with students in Grade 9.
“That’s concerning, because of course we know that nicotine vape use also increases the odds of polysubstance use, and that includes things like cannabis and alcohol use and cigarette smoking as well,” he said.
Males had higher odds of being in each past-month vape user category than females, and Grade 9 students were more likely to dual use vape with both nicotine and non-nicotine e-cigarettes, the study says, noting that further investigation into the trend is warranted.
“Perhaps the behavioural and cultural pressures associated with transitioning to high school account for some of this variation, whereby vape use, in general, signals acceptance and belonging in high school culture,” the study reads.
“Alternatively, some of the associated mechanisms might be rooted in earlier (e.g., middle school) processes of socialization. Recent research suggests that both proximity and peer/media influence can have a substantial impact on the likelihood of initiating vape use.”
Seabrook and Wiley note that the trend is concerning, as research has found that youth who vape nicotine-free products “have a worse understanding of e-cigarette chemicals, compared to those who vape with nicotine.”
The high number of high school students vaping could be attributed to several factors, including aggressive marketing and flavoured vape products that appeal to teens, Seabrook says.
“I think a lot of this, with the aggressive marketing that unfortunately are really targeting youth, is really problematic,” he said. “Again, there’s a lot of data, including our study, that shows that it’s highly correlated with a polysubstance use.
“We also know that adolescents vape for a variety of reasons, some because they enjoy it. There’s research that shows that it’s to help reduce stress. Some people do it just to experiment. But the biggest concern … would be the potential addiction to nicotine.”
Seabrook says the study indicates a need to better prevent the initiation of vape use among adolescents in the first place, and to deliver better interventions for those who have already started vaping.
Last month, a separate Western University study found that undergraduates who regularly used e-cigarettes reported wanting to cut back after learning about the risks vaping posed to their health.
The prevalence of e-cigarette use among youth in the United States has spurred numerous lawsuits, including thousands against Juul Labs, one of the most prominent brands in the e-cigarette industry. Most of the lawsuits have been settled, including 39 with U.S. states and territories.
Last week, a lawsuit against Juul filed in 2019 by the state of Minnesota opened in Minneapolis, with the state’s attorney general accusing the company of using “slick products, clever ads and attractive flavours” to hook children on nicotine.
The suit is seeking more than US$100 million in damages. In 2020, tobacco giant Altria, which previously owned a minority stake in Juul, was added as a co-defendent. The jury trial is expected to last about three weeks.
Last year, the U.S. FDA blocked Juul Labs from selling its nicotine products in the United States, a decision Juul is appealing.
The company is still being sued by Alaska, California, D.C., Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, and West Virginia.
— with files from The Associated Press
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