Some E-cigarette Devices (‘mods’) Are 6 Times More Powerful at Hooking Young Smokers

While research has shown that vaping in teenaged years is tied to smoking later in life, a new study, “E-Cigarette Product Characteristics and Subsequent Frequency of Cigarette Smoking,” in the May 2020 Pediatrics, found depending on which vaping devices a teen uses—vaping pens versus modifiable e-cigarette devices—the young person may wind up smoking far more. The study found that participants using a pen-like e-cigarette device smoked 2.83 times as many cigarettes as those who had never used e-cigarettes, and participants using a modifiable e-cigarette device (often called “mod” devices) smoked 8.38 times as many cigarettes. Researchers for the study, which is published online on April 6, examined data from 1,312 participants in the Southern California Children’s Health Study in 2015-2016 (~18 years of age) and followed up with these participants a year later. Those who vaped were more likely to smoke after the year, and the amount they smoked depended on the e-cigarette device they used. Mods have components that can be modified, such as the battery, temperature, and power, that change the relative amount of nicotine delivery and size of the vape cloud, while vape pens generally deliver a consistent, and often lower, level of nicotine. However, the study largely took place prior to the popularization of pod-based e-cigarette products, so they were not included in this comparison. Researchers concluded that young adults using modifiable (vs. pen-like) e-cigarette devices smoked more than 6 times as many cigarettes a year later and recommended that targeted regulation of these mod e-cigarettes could help reduce more heavy smoking patterns. Additional research is needed to discover the reasons for these differences.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.