medwireNews: US researchers have found “disproportionally higher” rates of vaping among young adult cancer survivors than among their counterparts without a history of malignancy.
Any use of e-cigarettes was reported by 46.7% of the 1444 cancer survivors included in the 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey versus 39.1% of the 53,487 individuals without cancer, a significant difference.
There was also a nonsignificant trend toward increased current e-cigarette use among cancer survivors (31.3 vs 26.9%), report Helen Parsons, from University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and co-authors in JAMA Oncology.
Increased use of e-cigarettes by cancer survivors was found “across all demographic subgroups,” with the highest rates of ever use and current use reported for non-Hispanic White participants, males, young people, and those living in urban areas.
Noting that young adult cancer survivors have previously been shown to be more likely to participate in high-risk health behaviors than other individuals, the team concludes “that efforts to reduce vaping may benefit from targeted interventions” in this population.
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