Title: Association between Electronic Cigarette Use and Asthma among High School Students in South Korea

Abstract

Little is known about health outcomes related to electronic cigarette (EC) use, despite its growing popularity. The aim of this study is to investigate the association between EC use and asthma. The study design is a cross-sectional study. A total of 35,904 high school students were included as the final study population. The presence of asthma was based on a student’s self-reported doctor diagnosis of asthma in the past 12 months. Results showed prevalence rates of asthmatics in ‘current EC users’ (n = 2,513), ‘former EC users’ (n = 2,078), and ‘never EC users’ (n = 31,313), were 3.9% (n = 98), 2.2% (n = 46) and 1.7% (n = 530), respectively. Comparing ‘current EC’ users with ‘never EC’ users, the unadjusted OR for asthma was 2.36 (95% CI: 1.89–2.94). In order to control for the effect of conventional cigarette (CC) smoking, after stratifying the subjects by the three CC smoking categories (never CC, former CC, and current CC), within the ‘never CC’ category, the unadjusted OR for asthma for ‘current EC’ users was 3.41 (95% CI: 1.79–6.49), and the adjusted OR was 2.74 (95% CI: 1.30–5.78). Severe asthma was reflected by the number of days absent from school duemore » to asthma symptoms; current EC users had the highest adjusted OR for severe asthma compared to ‘never EC’ users. In conclusion, when compared to a reference population of high school students in South Korea, EC users have an increased association with asthma and are more likely to have had days absent from school due to severe asthma symptoms. In conclusion, the results indicate that EC use may be a risk factor for asthma. The results may be useful in developing a scientific basis for the evaluation of a potential health hazard by EC.« less

Authors:

Cho, Jun Ho ^[1]; Paik, Samuel Y. ^[2]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Hanyang Women's Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of). Dept. of Public Health Administration
2. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Publication Date:

Fri Mar 04 00:00:00 EST 2016

Research Org.:

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE; Hanyang Women's University (Republic of Korea)

OSTI Identifier:

1259659

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

PLoS ONE

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 11; Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 1932-6203

Publisher:

Public Library of Science

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES