Among teens, e-cigarette use doubles likelihood of tobacco cigarette smoking

Anuja Vaidya -

Teenagers who try e-cigarettes are 2.16 times more likely to smoke regular cigarettes than those who don't, according to a study in Preventive Medicine.

Researchers, from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, and Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Wake Forest School of Medicine, used data from the Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey. Almost 10 percent of students in grades seven to 12 reported having tried e-cigarettes.

"While preliminary evidence suggests that e-cigarettes contain fewer toxic chemicals than traditional cigarettes, our findings suggest that a potential increase in harmful cigarette use may follow as e-cigarette use continues to rise among adolescent populations," said Bruce Baskerville, PhD, coauthor on the study and a researcher at the University of Waterloo.

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