“Teens were very hesitant to disclose
their vaping habits”
just over a third of patients and over half had other ‘psychosocial
risk domains’ such as home environment, academic problems
and mental health issues.
The study also looked at the demographics of hospitalised EVALI
patients.
The mean age was 16 years old, with 54 percent female and 46
percent of the 13 patients Hispanic.
The findings suggest that young people in these groups may be
more susceptible to risky behaviours than previously thought.
Rao said: “This serves as a reminder to clinicians that a teen
with EVALI is not necessarily always going to be white and male.”
The study mirrors the latest figures from the CDC, which found
THC to be overwhelmingly implicated in EVALI hospitalisations.
An overwhelming 82 percent of hospitalised patients reported
using THC products, though the Dallas study suggests that the
real figure may be under reported.
Lab tests revealed vitamin E acetate to be strongly linked to the
outbreak.
The additive was widely used in black market THC products and
was the primary intoxicant in the lung samples of EVALI patients
in a CDC-cited study.
Vitamin E acetate is not used in commercial e-liquids, which
overwhelmingly use PG and VG as a carrier.
While the CDC has acknowledged vitamin E acetate to be largely
to blame for the EVALI outbreak, nicotine vape products continue
to be implicated.
A World Health Organization (WHO) press release maintains that
‘there is growing evidence that ENDS could be associated with
lung injuries and in recent times e-cigarette and vaping have been
linked to an outbreak of lung injury in the USA.’
The document also refuses to acknowledge that e-cigarettes are
considerably less harmful than combustible tobacco.
The WHO also maintains that governments should scale up free
tobacco support phone lines before encouraging smokers to use
reduced-risk nicotine products like e-cigarettes.
The WHO’s comments were criticised by UK experts who support
e-cigarettes for tobacco harm reduction.
Peter Hajek, director of the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit
at Queen Mary University of London, said: “The WHO has a history
of anti-vaping activism that is damaging their reputation. This
document is particularly malign.”
The organisation remains highly critical of e-cigarettes despite
supporting other harm reduction initiatives, such as HIV
prevention.
WHO policy states: “Harm reduction is a set of policies,
programmes, services and actions that aim to reduce the harm to
individuals, communities and society related to drugs, including
HIV infection.
“WHO/Europe actively promotes scaling-up comprehensive harm
reduction services to effectively address the HIV epidemic among
PWIDs and their sexual partners.”
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