Longitudinal association Between Exclusive and Dual Use of Cigarettes and Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems and asthma among U.S. adolescents.

Introduction:
This article presents the findings of a prospective cohort study examining the relationship between tobacco product use and incident diagnosed asthma among U.S. adolescents. The study used data from the Population assessment of Tobacco and health Study (PaTh) and included adolescents aged 12-17 years at baseline who were followed for five years. The study investigated the association between exclusive and dual use of cigarettes and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and incident diagnosed asthma.

Key Points:

* The study found that short-term exclusive cigarette use was associated with a higher risk of incident diagnosed asthma over five years of follow-up among adolescents.
* The study did not find conclusive evidence for an association between exclusive ENDS or dual use and incident diagnosed asthma.
* The study controlled for sociodemographic and other risk factors such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, parental education, urban/rural setting, secondhand smoke exposure, household combustible tobacco use, and body mass index.
* The study used discrete time hazard models to analyze the association between time-varying tobacco product use and incident diagnosed asthma.
* The study lagged the time-varying exposure variable by one wave and categorized respondents by current use status.
* The study defined incident diagnosed asthma based on parental or guardian response to a question asking if the adolescent was told by a doctor, nurse, or other health professional that they had asthma in the past 12 months.
* The study defined current cigarette use as having smoked cigarettes at least one day in the past 30 days and current ENDS use as having used ENDS at least one day in the past 30 days.

Main Message:
The main message of this study is that short-term exclusive cigarette use is associated with a higher risk of incident diagnosed asthma among U.S. adolescents. however, the study did not find conclusive evidence for an association between exclusive ENDS or dual use and incident diagnosed asthma. These findings highlight the need to monitor the health effects of adolescent cigarette and ENDS use using the latest longitudinal data. It is important for regulators to consider these findings when developing policies and regulations related to tobacco product use among adolescents.

Patel a, Cook S, Mattingly DT, et al. Longitudinal association Between Exclusive and Dual Use of Cigarettes and Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems and asthma among U.S. adolescents. The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for adolescent Medicine. Published online June 9, 2023. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2023.04.009