Participation in sports teams increases risk of electronic vapor product (EVP) use among high school students, according to a study recently published in the journal Pediatrics.
In recent years, an increase in EVP use among high school students has been observed, possibly because of the assumption that nicotine e-cigarettes do not cause similar levels of harm and addiction as tobacco products. However, longitudinal studies have shown that young people who use e-cigarettes are at increased risk of smoking cigarettes.
Cases of illness from vaping have been reported, and suspected carcinogens released by EVP fluids indicate potential, unknown health consequences. With these results in mind, research has been conducted on how adolescent behavior affects the risk of EVP use.
Participation in sports teams has been associated with reduced cigarette use, but some studies have linked participation in sports teams to increased use of e-cigarettes. However, this data is limited.
To determine the association between participation in sports teams and use of EVP, the researchers analyzed data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) among US high school students.
Data was collected from the 2015, 2017 and 2019 YRBS cycles. Questions in the survey asked about the students’ use of EVP and cigarettes in the past 30 days.
Exclusive users of EVP, referred to as EVP users, refer to students who have not smoked cigarettes but have smoked EVP during this period. The exclusive users of cigarettes, called cigarette users, were students who had smoked cigarettes, not EVPs. Students who use both products are called dual users, while students who use neither are called non-users.
Intermittent use of EVP or cigarettes was defined as use 1 to 19 days in the past 30 days, and frequent use 20 or more days in the past 30 days. Sports participation was determined by asking students how many sports teams they participated in in the past 12 months.
A total of 30,762 high school students met the study inclusion criteria throughout the 3 YRBS cycles. About half of the participants were women. Among the participants, 75.1% were non-users, 2.3% were cigarette users, 16.1% were EVP users, and 6.5% were dual users.
43.7% of participants were not on a sports team, while 25.4% were on 1 team, 17.4% were on 2 teams, and 13.5% were on 3 or more teams. Among students who participated in 1 or more sports teams, 74.5% were non-users, 1.7% were cigarette users, 18.3% were EVP users, and 5.5% were dual users.
Among students who had not participated in a sports team in the past 12 months, 75.9% were non-users, 3.1% were cigarette users, 13.4% were EVP users, and 7.6% were dual users. These students used EVP less than those on sports teams, but used cigarettes more.
Participation in sports teams decreased the odds of frequent and intermittent cigarette and EVP use among cigarette and EVP users, respectively.
Based on these results, the researchers recommend educating student athletes about the health risks of EVP use.
refer to
Rapoport E, Zhu M, Pham D, Keim SA, Adesman A. Sports team participation and vaping among high school students: 2015-2019. Pediatrics. 2023;151(1):e2021055565. doi: 10.1542/peds.2021-055565
