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The surprising factor that raises the risk of teens getting sick in Corona

Adolescents who smoke e-cigarettes are at higher risk of contracting corona. "Evaporation causes a total suppression of healthy immune responses," experts explain

• Corona
• Corona virus
• smoking
• Evaporation
• Electronic Cigarette

Walla! health

After all the studies done on children and adolescents, and the unequivocal results that have shown that adolescents are contagious just like adults, a new study raises another factor that increases the risk of young people getting corona.

Teens who smoke regular cigarettes or e-cigarettes may put themselves at higher risk of contracting the corona virus, according to a study conducted at Stanford University. "Our findings from the national sample of adolescents and young adults show that the use of e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes are significant risk factors for COVID-19 that has not been proven in the past," the authors write.

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To the full article

The study was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health last week, and was conducted by an online survey of 4,351 teens and young adults in the U.S., between the ages of 13 and 24. The researchers tailored the sample to influencing factors such as obesity, race, sex and compliance with home isolation orders .

participants in the survey were asked both about the use of cigarettes and electronic cigarettes during the last 30 days, as well as using them at all, and were also asked if they had symptoms of COVID-19, or received a positive test. Although the relationship between the two was expected, the researchers surprised by the intensity of the relationship.

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The researchers found that the diagnosis of COVID-19 was five times higher among those who used e-cigarettes - and seven times higher among those who used e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes. People who have used e-cigarettes and cigarettes in the last 30 days were almost five times more likely to show symptoms of the virus.

The data in Israel from 2019 show that 19 percent of teenagers in Israel smoke, 26 percent of them e-cigarettes, 33 percent of boys who smoke between the ages of 12-15 started smoking with e-cigarettes.

Professor Bonnie Halpern-Flesher, a pediatrician at Stanford University and one of the study's authors, said the result was higher than expected. Halpern-Flesher told Yahoo Life that: "I was not surprised by the findings in general, but I did not expect to see a five to seven times higher risk of being diagnosed with COVID-19."

Professor Ilona Jaspers, an expert in pediatrics and microbiology and immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and one of the leading experts on teens and vaporizers, said that "the findings are certainly interesting and have a significant impact, but not surprisingly. Included in this article provide important evidence to support the potential link between cigarette vaporizers and the increased risk of COVID-19 ".

why is it happening?

As a population study, the present study did not examine the reason why evaporation may put people at higher risk. But Jaspers says some of it may be related to immune function. "Several previous studies have shown that evaporation causes a total suppression of healthy immune responses," Jaspers explains. Studies on rodents have linked exposure to e-cigarettes with increased susceptibility to other respiratory viruses, such as influenza. Our studies have shown that a number of components that protect us from vapors and specific components of e-cigarettes can be significantly suppressed. "

Professor Halpern-Flesher says that although a decrease in immune function may certainly contribute to the disease being more prevalent among smokers, there may be additional factors COVID-19. "It may also be that smoking and vaporizing cigarettes in teens increases the exposure to the virus when they put the cigarette in their mouth and touch their hands," says Halpern-Flesher. "Also, the smoke rising and rising upwards may carry a virus through particles. Aerosols, then go deep into the lungs. "

Dana Frost, the health advocate for the Cancer Society, said in response to the new study that it "joins a string of scientific evidence on the link between e-cigarettes and real health risks. E-cigarette use is known to double the chances of teens smoking later in life," "May impair brain development and increase their risk of heart and lung disease. According to the current study, it also appears to increase the risk of coronary heart disease."

She added that "it is important to remember that maintaining public health includes not only social alienation and masking, but also effective and vigorous enforcement of smoking bans in public places and a law banning advertising and marketing of smoking products and taking proven steps to prevent young people from addictive and deadly habits."