Vaping May Have Resulted in Increased Smoking Among Teenagers

Dr. Andrew Johnson of Brampton, Ontario in Canada, has been a private practice physician since 1993. As a practicing physician in Brampton, Dr. Andrew Johnson specialties include treating patients for smoking-related issues.

While the dangers of smoking tobacco have long been known, many adults still engage in the activity. As a result, vaping has been a remedy to weaning adult smokers off nicotine, but it has had the opposite effect in young adults.

In the years spanning 2011 and 2016, the number of high school seniors in the US who vaped increased from 4.7 to 13 percent with 11 percent vaping at least once in 30 days. In 2018, one article in the Sun-Sentinel reported that in Florida high schools, roughly 25 percent of the students stated they vaped, which was a 58 percent increase in the previous year.

There is a reason for concern at the increasing numbers of youth vaping. According to an article attributed to Yale University, researchers have found a direct link between vaping and the cessation of smoking. While alternative options to smoking like vaping have assisted adults with quitting smoking, it has become a gateway for teenagers to begin smoking.

According to the American Lung Association, vaping has become the number one choice (16 percent of high school students) for high school students. Ultimately, the major issue is that many begin smoking as teenagers, and vaping might be one facilitator in this case.

Vitamin D - An Integral Key to Mental Health

Ontario physician Dr. Andrew Johnson has practiced palliative, in-hospital, and obstetric care in Brampton for close to 30 years. As a private practice physician, Dr. Andrew Johnson's practice in Brampton includes assisting patients with smoking-related ailments. In recent years, Canada has taken proactive steps to reduce the incidence of smoking in the country.

The Canadian government has gone about approaching reducing the incidence of smoking in the country by looking at overall patterns. This approach has attempted to look at disparities among populations to see which groups of people are more at risk for smoking. The particular factors the government studied were demographics (i.e. sex, race, and ethnicity), socioeconomic factors, family environment, other substance use, and mental health.

The study had mixed results but showed that the incidence of smoking was increased in one area. According to an article published in Tobacco Use Insights, half of the smokers in Canada suffered from mental health issues or had a substance abuse problem at some point in their lives. Other populations that were susceptible to smoking were low-income families and those without formal education. Men also were more likely to smoke than women.