Aussie teens who have vaped five times more likely to then try smoking
11 September 2024
Joint release from the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health / Cancer Council
New research published in a leading public health journal today shows that Australian teenagers who have vaped
are much more likely to then try smoking, with Australia’s youngest adolescents
the most at risk.
Health
experts say it’s a sobering reminder of the need for state, territory and federal
governments to work together to fully implement and enforce Australian’s new vaping
reforms and protect young people.
The
new study used
Generation Vape survey data from over 5,100
teenagers in a retrospective cohort analysis that was published today in the
Australian and NewZealand Journal of Public Health.
Lead
Author Sam Egger from the Daffodil Centre, a joint venture between Cancer
Council NSW and the University of Sydney, says the study is the first of its
kind in Australia, using data collected in 2023, prior to recent vaping reforms
coming into effect.
“It’s
the first Australian study to look at the relationship between teenage vape use
and smoking over time, and across different ages.
“Even
after accounting for other factors that could influence the likelihood that a young
person would try vapes or tobacco, we found that teenagers aged 12-17 who had vaped
are
five times more likely to start smoking in the future than
those who had not.
“The
link was strongest for adolescents at the younger end of the 12 to 17 age
range. The younger a person started using vapes, the higher their increased risk
that they would subsequently try smoking.
We found that 12-year-olds who had vaped were 29 times more likely to go
on to try smoking than 12-year-olds who had not vaped.”
Associate
Professor Becky Freeman, study supervisor from the University of Sydney, says that
the study reinforces why the national vaping reforms introduced this year were urgently
needed and now need to be strongly enforced.
“When
it comes to teenage smoking, up until recently Australia was an international
success story. Our Australian teenage ever-smoking rates dropped from 58% in
1996, to 14% in 2023. But recent data has suggested a
possible increase in teenage smoking over the same time period that vape use has
exploded.
“Public
health experts have warned that teenage vaping uptake has the potential to undo
the positive progress Australia has made in reducing smoking. This latest study
shows how real that threat is.
“Young people don’t want to smoke. They’ve grown up
seeing graphic health warnings on expensive cigarette packs and think smoking
is unattractive and something from their parent’s generation. They view vaping as
an entirely different behaviour to smoking and don’t know that they are more likely
to take up smoking if they vape.”
Adjunct
Professor Terry Slevin, CEO, Public Health Association of Australia, says that
while public health experts have enthusiastically welcomed the Federal
Government’s vaping reforms, positive change won’t happen overnight.
“We
strongly and enthusiastically welcomed the Federal Government’s vaping reforms
that passed Parliament in June this year, but the job is not done yet.
“We
need to make sure that state and territory governments are harmonising their local
legislation and enforcement with the Federal reforms. All levels of government
will need to work together to protect young people.”
Ms
Alecia Brooks, research co-author and Chair of Cancer Council’s Tobacco Issues
Committee says that support is available for teenagers who vape or smoke and
have become addicted to nicotine.
“Most
concerningly, the research shows that it is our youngest teenage vapers, kids
as young as 12 who have vaped are at the highest increased risk of trying smoking
because of the easy access to vapes in Australia in recent years before action
was taken.
“We
anticipate that now restrictions on vaping are coming into place, any
population-level impacts that e-cigarettes are having on smoking rates will
become minimal, but we aren’t entirely out of the vape haze yet.
“We
know that communities, including teenagers, schools, teachers and parents are
very concerned about vaping and will find these findings worrying. We urge
anyone seeking support to speak with their doctor or call quit on 13 7848.
Smoking and addiction isn’t inevitable and support to quit is available.”
ENDS
For media enquiries contact:
Hollie Harwood, Strategic Communications
Advisor, Public Health Association of Australia / Australian and New Zealand
Journal of Public Health 0400 762 010
[email protected]
Cancer Council Australia,
[email protected], 02 8256 4109 (redirects to mobile outside of business
hours)
“
The association between vaping and subsequent initiation of
cigarette smoking in young Australians from age 12 to 17 years: a
retrospective cohort analysis using cross-sectional recall data from 5114
adolescents” by Sam Egger, Michael David, Christina Watts, Anita Dessaix, Alecia
Brooks, Emily Jenkinson, Paul Grogan, Marianne Weber, Qingwei Luo & Becky
Freeman was published on the 11 September 2024
here.
Please credit the
Australian and New
Zealand Journal of Public Health. The Journal is the official publication
of the Public Health Association of Australia.
All articles are open access and can be found
here:
https://www.journals.elsevier.com/australian-and-new-zealand-journal-of-public-health