A new study by researchers from Ohio State University has revealed that people who smoke cigarettes and use e-cigarettes together are four times more likely to develop lung cancer than people who smoke only cigarettes.
This study, whose results were published in the Journal of Oncology Research and Treatment on June 19, is the first to provide evidence that actual smoking with e-cigarettes increases the risk of cancer compared to actual smoking alone.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, accounting for 1.8 million deaths in 2020 alone. The American Thoracic Society found that about 87% of these cancers can be directly linked to continued tobacco use.
In the study, researchers analyzed cigarette smoking and e-cigarette use in 4,975 people with lung cancer, compared with a group of 27,294 people without cancer. All study participants were from the same general geographic location (treated in Columbus, Ohio) and had a similar distribution of age, sex, and race.
The researchers found that vaping combined with cigarette smoking was eight times more common among people with lung cancer than among people without lung cancer. The data also showed that the risk of lung cancer was four times higher among people who combined vaping with smoking compared to those who only smoked.
“Our findings provide the first evidence that smoking and vaping significantly increase the risk of lung cancer compared to smoking alone,” said study author Dr. Randall Harris, professor of epidemiology at The Ohio State University College of Public Health. “Most people know that tobacco smoke contains cancer-causing chemicals, but there is generally less knowledge about the chemicals inhaled from vaping.”
Researchers say it is imperative that policymakers consider dual exposure to tobacco products in their regulation of the tobacco product industry to further protect public health, particularly when it comes to inhaled flavors and nicotine concentrations.
“From a public health perspective, we have always been concerned about the dual use of both traditional and electronic products,” said study lead author Marisa Bittoni, a researcher in the Department of Medical Oncology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. “This study provides clear evidence that vaping, in addition to actual smoking, can increase the risk of lung cancer. This is particularly concerning given the rate of youth use of these products. More research is urgently needed on the impact of alternative tobacco products on individual health, so that science can regulate the tobacco industry.”