Washington: According to research presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Barcelona, teenagers with smoking parents are 55% more likely to try electronic cigarettes. In a large study of Irish teenagers, the researchers have also found that the proportion who have tried e-cigarettes has been increasing dramatically and that although boys are more likely to use e-cigarettes, the rate of use among girls is increasing more rapidly. Read Also: Researchers find respiratory infections cause extreme stress to cells, organs The researchers highlight the risks associated with nicotine addiction and call for more effective regulation to protect children and teenagers. The research was carried out by a team at the TobaccoFree Research Institute Ireland (TFRI), in Dublin. They examined data on 6,216 17-18-year-olds, including information on whether their parents smoked while they were growing up. The teenagers were asked whether they smoked or used e-cigarettes. The study showed that teenagers whose parents smoked were around 55% more likely to have tried e-cigarettes and around 51% more likely to have tried smoking. Read Also: Health: Researchers discover how artificial intelligence can be trained to detect tumour Research on Boys and Girls The researchers also looked in detail at data on 3,421 sixteen-year-olds to see if there were differences between boys and girls. Although boys were more likely to try or use e-cigarettes, the researchers found that rates were increasing more quickly among girls with 23% saying they had tried e-cigarettes in 2015 and 39% in 2019, and 10% saying they were currently using e-cigarettes in 2015, rising to 18% in 2019. Researchers found that having friends who smoke and having less parental monitoring were both major factors in teenage use of e-cigarettes, more so for boys than girls. (with ANI inputs)
