New Pediatrics Study Provides Absolutely No Evidence that E-Cigarettes are a Gateway to Smoking

A new study published online today in the journal Pediatrics purports to show that electronic cigarettes are a gateway to smoking among youth. The study followed a sample of approximately 150 never-users of e-cigarettes and 150 ever users of e-cigarettes for one year. both groups consisted entirely of never smokers. At one-year follow-up, the initiation of smoking was compared between the two groups. E-cigarette users were found to be six times more likely to have initiated smoking. Based on these findings, the paper concludes that e-cigarette use among youth increases the risk of progression to smoking: "These findings suggest that e-cigarette use may promote smoking during the transition to adulthood ... ."(See: Barrington-Trimis JL, et al. E-cigarettes and future cigarette use. Pediatrics 2016; 138(1): e20160379. Published online ahead of print on June 13, 2016.)The Rest of the StoryThis study is virtually meaningless in terms of its evaluation of the “gateway” hypothesis.Baseline e-cigarette use was defined as ever having taken even one puff of an e-cigarette. And smoking initiation was similarly defined as ever having taken even one puff of a cigarette. So the study did not document that even one subject in the study was ever a regular vaper. It is entirely possible (and in fact likely) that the majority of these kids had experimented with e-cigarettes, failed to become vapers, and then turned to regular cigarettes. In fact, it’s entirely possible that ha...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs