There appears to be a transparent link between e-cigarette use and mental fog as two new studies have found that those that vape were more likely to report difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions than their non-vaping, non-smoking peers.
It also appeared that youngsters were more likely to experience mental fog if they started vaping before the age of 14.
“Our studies increase growing evidence that vaping shouldn’t be considered a secure alternative to tobacco smoking,” said study author Dongmei Li, professor at University of Rochester Medical Centre (URMC) in ny .
The studies, published within the journals Tobacco Induced Diseases and Plos One, analysed over 18,000 middle and highschool student responses to the National Youth Tobacco Survey within the US and quite 886,000 responses to the Behavioral Risk Factor closed-circuit television phone survey from US adults.
Both surveys asked similar questions on smoking and vaping habits also as issues with memory, attention and mental function.
Both studies showed that folks who smoke and vape — no matter age — are presumably to report battling mental function.
Behind that group, people that only vape or only smoke reported mental fog at similar rates, which were significantly above those reported by people that don’t smoke or vape.
The youth study also found that students who reported beginning to vape early — between eight and 13 years aged — were more likely to report difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions than those that started vaping at 14 or older.
“With the recent rise in teen vaping, this is often very concerning and suggests that we’d like to intervene even earlier,” said Li.
While the URMC studies clearly show an association between vaping and mental function, it’s not clear which causes which.
It is possible that nicotine exposure through vaping causes difficulty with mental function.
But it’s equally possible that folks who report mental fog are simply more likely to smoke or vape — possibly to self-medicate.
Li and her team say that further studies that follow kids and adults over time are needed to parse the cause and effect of vaping and mental fog.(IANS)