Youths Who Vape Are Being Sought for Lung Research to Know the Effects of Vaping

Dalhousie University researchers are looking for participants aged 18 to 25 for a survey on the effects of vaping.

“To be honest, we simply cannot wait four decades to discover if vaping is harmful to humans,” said Sanja Stanojevic, a respiratory epidemiologist and one of the study’s authors.

According to Stanojevic, vaping is very new and has grown in popularity, especially among teenagers and youths.

She claimed that the Maritimes ranks among the highest users.

According to a press release from Statistics Canada from the previous spring, in 2021, 13% of Canadian teens, aged 15 to 19, and 17% of youths, aged 20 to 24, admitted experiencing vaping at least once within the 30-day timeframe before the study.

Comparatively, among Canadian people surveyed who were 25 years of age or older, the percentage was 4%.

According to Statistics Canada, New Brunswick reported the highest vaping rate at 9%, trailed by Prince Edward Island at 8%.

Stanojevic states that there is already some research that suggests that vaping has harmful repercussions.

What occurs in the early stages of the respiratory system has not yet been observed.

She mentioned that a few fatalities in the US in 2019 were associated with vaping, but these were caused by people adding substances to their vaporizers.

Since some of the technologies we have are still not capable of detecting those variations, it’s quite challenging to understand what exactly is going on.

Research shows that vapers reported having greater respiratory issues, said Stanojevic.

They frequently experience respiratory difficulties and tend to cough up more mucus.

It is “very hard to identify variations” in routine spirometry lung function testing, though.

Spirometry counts your breaths while measuring how fast and how much air you expel.

She claimed that while the test was excellent, it concentrated on the big airways, which would represent the trunk of the lungs were a tree.

“Before we start to notice such variations, a person must be seriously ill and have significant lung damage, especially to those major airways.”

She claimed that it takes 40 years of continuous exposure to cigarette smoke to notice alterations in that way.

According to Stanojevic, the Dalhousie study employs a different kind of breathing test to try and record what’s occurring earlier. It examines the gas exchange process in the lungs.

Gas exchange takes place “far away from that major branch” in “teeny little” airways.

She said that healthy lungs may completely exchange the whole of their air in five to six volume exchanges, or ten to fifteen breaths.

It takes longer for wounded lungs to completely exchange their gas.

“If your small airways are damaged and you have scar tissue or inflammation that makes it difficult for them to open, air may be trapped in some areas of your lung. The tests we use actually pick up on that.”

According to Stanojevic, the breath test has been employed since the 60s and has shown to be “very sensitive” at detecting alterations in children with chronic respiratory disorders at an early stage.

In addition, she and her partners believe it should be able to point the way for future study and determine whether harm is being caused by vaping.

She explained that since they are simpler to recruit, they’re starting with test volunteers in the 18 to 25 age range, but they eventually want to study even younger vapers.

“The majority of individuals are unaware that your lungs keep expanding and grow well into your twenties,” said Stanojevic.

“One of our worries is that by subjecting our lungs to toxic substances like the vaporized flavors and liquids found in vape devices, we may potentially inhibit the lungs from developing to their full potential during this growth period.”

Failure to achieve maximum lung growth puts a person at risk of developing respiratory problems later.

Since the doses are quantifiable, they primarily seek out users of pod-style e-cigarettes.

On one occasion, participants must make a 40-minute trip to a lab on the Dalhousie University campus in Halifax, according to Stanojevic. A $20 gift card is given to them.

Author: ayla