Doctors and anti-smoking advocates across Bahrain are calling for urgent awareness campaigns and packaging that reflects health risks to discourage young people from vaping, as a major international study found strong evidence that it is linked to smoking initiation, substance use, respiratory illnesses and mental health damage.
The ‘Vaping and harm in young people: umbrella review’, published in the peer-reviewed journal Tobacco Control, concluded that young people who use e-cigarettes are approximately three times more likely to take up smoking than those who do not.
In Bahrain, American Mission Hospital (AMH) pulmonologist Dr Chellaraja Chellasamy is seeing patterns locally that mirror these global findings.
“Short-term effects are predominantly a dry, hacking cough or wheeze,” he told the GDN.
“Long-term effects are heart-related, including palpitations, abnormal heart rhythm and lungs-related like bronchial asthma, reduced lung function, and EVALI (E-cigarette or Vaping-Associated Lung Injury).”
The global study synthesised 56 systematic reviews and also linked vaping with increased risks of asthma, persistent coughing, injuries from device explosions, as well as depression and suicidal behaviours.
In some cases, teenagers as young as 13 were hospitalised with vaping-related lung injuries.
“In recent years, we have observed a noticeable increase in the uptake of e-cigarettes among teenagers,” Bahrain Anti-Smoking Society chairman Mohammed Zainal added.
“This trend is mainly driven by undeclared marketing on social media platforms, as well as the attractive designs of devices offered in multiple flavours and striking colours that appeal to younger age groups.”
Young people who vape are significantly more likely to start smoking, with odds ratios ranging from 1.5 to 26, most showing they were around three times more likely to initiate smoking compared with those who had never vaped.
Evidence also pointed to increased risks of gum disease, oral pain, dry mouth, migraines, dizziness and lower sperm counts in young men.
Five systematic reviews within the study also found strong associations between vaping and substance use, noting that young people who vape were two to six times more likely to consume marijuana or alcohol, and significantly more likely to engage in binge drinking.
Adolescents who vape also showed higher risks of depression, suicidal thoughts, suicide planning and suicide attempts, with one review finding that those who used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days were more than six times more likely to attempt suicide or have suicidal thoughts.
Dr Chellasamy stressed that stopping young people from starting in the first place is key.
“The best intervention is to prevent from initiating the smoking or vaping habit instead of starting and then trying to quit,” he noted, adding that vaping has become particularly attractive to first-time users between the ages of 12 and 16.
“First-time smokers take to vape usually due to peer pressure, curiosity and inspiration from social media,” he said. “Teens think that vaping is a better alternative to smoking. Another reason is easy availability and ‘fancy’ stores selling vapes.
“Awareness should be spread in schools that all forms of smoking are bad.
“The only thing that vape was better than smoking is in terms of cancer-inducing potential which is more with cigarettes.
“Otherwise vape or e-cigarettes are equally as harmful as a conventional cigarette and vaping is proving to be more addictive than smoking because it provides more and faster nicotine delivery into the body than a conventional cigarette.
“Flavoured vapes have almost become a rage with teenagers which is a very disturbing trend.”
Both Mr Zainal and AMH general practitioner Dr Babu Ramachandran echoed these concerns.
The Anti-Smoking Society focuses on early awareness campaigns in co-operation with relevant authorities, organising exhibitions and providing medical and psychological consultations with experts from both public and private hospitals as well as specialised centres. It also encourages parents to maintain ongoing communication with their children about the risks of these products.
“E-cigarettes contain nicotine, which is highly addictive, and adolescents are particularly vulnerable due to the ongoing development of the brain at this stage of life,” Mr Zainal added.
“From the cases we have encountered, many young people began experimenting with e-cigarettes, believing them to be harmless or less dangerous than traditional tobacco.
“They later realised the truth and needed serious help to quit. Vaping is not a safe alternative, but rather a potential gateway to conventional smoking or other harmful behaviours.”
The society also provides support to those wishing to quit vaping through awareness programmes in co-operation with school health specialists, as well as educational seminars in community gatherings and shopping malls.
In addition to free and confidential consultations, individuals who wish to quit are referred to the Health Ministry’s smoking cessation clinics.
Appointments can also be arranged via the clinics’ hotline at 66399855 for counselling and medical checkups.
According to the society, regional studies suggest that between 15 per cent and 20pc of teenagers have tried e-cigarettes.
While the last national-level survey in Bahrain, conducted in 2018, mainly covered traditional smoking, a new nationwide study is expected to be launched soon by the relevant authorities, according to Mr Zainal, and could include a closer look at the phenomenon of vaping.
Dr Ramachandran suggested that awareness campaigns and health warnings should mirror tobacco control efforts.
“Creating an awareness that vaping is harmful, the same way as smoking, should be the strategy at schools, and ideally there should be health warnings on packaging like with tobacco, highlighting the potential damage,” he added.
naman@gdnmedia.bh
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