use of e-cigarettes
Vaping, unlike traditional cigarettes, has become a trendy lifestyle in our society. Millennials have adopted the use of e-cigarettes at an explosive rate. This can be highly attributed to aggressive marketing done by the huge players in the vaping sectors. The use of social media to target the young generation has brought about hype in the use of e-cigarettes among millennials. Social media influencers and celebrities are hired to run campaign ads by e-cigarette manufacturers. This aims to popularize their products among the millennials. Further, the e-cigarette has developed different flavors for the smoking substance to appeal to a wide range of their target audience.
The increase in the nationwide use of vaping has promoted various governmental institutions such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), CDC, public health, state, and local health departments to research the vaping. The investigation was aimed at establishing the role of e-cigarette products in lung injury( EVALI). The study was conducted across 49 states, two U.S. territories (Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) and the District of Columbia. In these regions, there were 2,172 EVALI cases reported to the CDC, which also included 42 (1.9%) cases of deaths associated with EVALI.
Data analyzed indicated that there indicated that of the total 2,016 EVALI patients, 1,906 (95%) had been hospitalized, and 110 (5%) had not been hospitalized. The study revealed similar demographic characteristics between hospitalized and non hospitalized patients. The highest number of patients were male aged 35 years and below. There was also a similar use of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) reported by the patients.
There are currently no specific test for the diagnosis of EVALI. This is due to the similarity of symptoms between Influenza and EVALI. Symptoms such as headache, fatigue, coughing, fever, and myalgias are common in both cases. It is due to this reason that the CDC decided not to collect data from non hospitalized patients but only focus on hospitalized patients. This will allow the health department to study and discern symptoms associated with EVALI more accurately. The process is likely to bring more progress quickly and increase the chances of identifying markers for EVALI. It will also bring about a reduced workload in the health care system as a result of the case finding and reporting of EVALI by outpatients.
There is a lot not yet understood regarding the health risk associated with vaping. Research is still ongoing in inorder to understand the various health risks resulting from vaping. However, from the research, it’s evident that vaping has been linked to EVALI. Students at Monmouth University should, therefore, be keen on the consumption of e-cigarettes. CDC recommended vaccinations against Influenza among those who vape. The government should also fund the various health departments to enable more research on the effects of vaping. There should also be policies and rules to regulate the sale of e-cigarette, especially among teenagers. Vaping companies should be held accountable by government institutions such as the FDA to ensure that their products are not humful to their customers.