Tobacco Prevention News

Research continues in an attempt to find out just how harmful using electronic cigarettes or vaping products can be one the human body. There are many questions that researchers continue to look for answers on. Questions such as what exactly does using vaping products do to a person’s lungs? How many harmful chemicals can be found in vaping products?

Some of these questions are being answered. It is known that vaping harms the lungs. So when COVID-19 hit the United States last winter, another question was asked. How does COVID-19 affect individuals that use electronic cigarettes or vaping products?

We know that COVID-19 attacks a person’s lungs. This made researchers wonder if the use of vaping products would make those people more susceptible to COVID-19. After months of research, researchers now have answers. A study conducted by the Stanford University School of Medicine has found that teens and young adults that use vaping products were five times more likely to be infected with COVID-19 than those that do not. The study also found that teens and young adults that both smoked traditional cigarettes and used vaping products, known as dual use in the past 30 days, are seven times more likely to be infected with COVID-19 than those that have never smoked or vaped.

It’s important to keep up to date on research being conducted. Based on data from the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, over 55 percent of high school students in Roosevelt County reported having ever used vaping products and 36 percent of high school students reporting using these products in the past thirty days. It was also reported that 31t percent of middle school students had ever tried vaping products and that 21 percent used a vaping product in the past 30 days. Electronic cigarettes or vaping products are now the most used tobacco product in Montana.

In addition to this research, the United States is starting to see the Electronic Vaping Associated Lung Illness, also known as EVALI, become prevalent again. Minnesota, California and Florida have recently had a spike in these cases during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the American Lung Association, symptoms of EVALI include shortness of breath, fever or chills, coughing, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, dizziness, rapid heart rate and chest pain. Many of these symptoms are the same symptoms of COVID-19, making it harder to detect. If people do not disclose that they use vaping products to their doctors, how would a doctor know what to look for?

The good news is that individuals who want to quit can. For teens, they can utilize the My life, My Quit teen quit line at 855-891-9989 or online at https://mylifemyquit.com/. For young adults, they can utilize the Montana Tobacco Quit Line at 800-QUIT-NOW (800-784-8669) or online at https://montana.quitlogix. org/en-US/. Both quit lines are now set up for texting or chatting options for those that prefer this method over phone conversation.

For further questions, contact A.J. Allen, tobacco prevention specialist for Roosevelt County, at 653-6212.