The medical community is looking at ways to combat the problem of vaping. The use of e-cigarettes is unsafe for kids, teens, and young adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The vaping and electronic cigarette epidemic has become a serious concern among medical professionals today. And while it impacts users in age groups across the board, the use of the products is especially enticing to young adults and adolescents. To combat it, medical centers are spreading anti-vaping messages to put an end to vaping and smoking.
Hackensack Meridian Health, for example, is venturing on a $1 million campaign to “Take Vape Away.” As part of the campaign, medical professionals will visit school districts throughout the state, including Monmouth and Ocean counties, and will provide buy-back programs, educational outreach and more to middle and high school students.
“As a parent and as a physician this is very scary,” said Eric Costanzo, D.O., pulmonary and critical care director with Hackensack Meridian Health’s Jersey Shore University Medical Center campus. “It doesn’t matter if it’s your first time or thirtieth time (vaping), you’re at risk no matter what.”
According to Subroto Paul, M.D., the RWJBarnabas Health system lead for Thoracic Surgery and a Barnabas Health Medical Group provider with a specialty in treating lung cancer, vapes and other electronic cigarettes create a vapor by heating a liquid, flavoring and other chemicals. Vapes typically contain nicotine, but not always, and they can also contain marijuana or other drugs.
“The FDA is currently trying to regulate who can buy vapes, but at this point the purchase of vape products are regulated by individual states,” according to Paul.
E-cigarettes were originally thought to be a more beneficial alternative to smoking cigarettes with harmful tobacco products. But “by inhaling any heated substance, you put your lungs at risk,” according to Paul. “Also, vaping fluid contains oils that if not completely removed when heated, can seriously damage your lungs.”
Nicotine in vapes are often flavored, which presents a special threat to children and teens, said Ziad G. Hanhan, M.D., director of minimally invasive thoracic surgery at Riverview and Bayshore hospitals. Flavors like cinnamon, mango, peppermint and much more are available and make the product that much more appealing to adolescents.
Hanhan said that he came across “frightening” statistics showing that in 2017, 1 in 10 students smoked vapes; the latest numbers for 2018 show that 1 in 4 students report using e-cigarettes, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
He shared the story of a 23-year-old female patient who used e-cigarettes. She came into the hospital with complaints of shortness of breath and doctors discovered she had a collapsed lung and needed surgery. When they went in with a camera in her chest, Hanhan said her lung tissues looked black rather than pink. “I’d have to attribute that to some of the solvents that they used,” in vaping products.
Shortness of breath is one complaint patients who vape or smoke come to the hospital with, said Costanzo. He has also seen patients with various forms of lung diseases, acute respiratory distress, chest pains and other abnormalities. He called the epidemic “a three-headed monster” in that it’s easy to obtain, easily concealable and not regulated. It’s difficult to combat as well because of its popularization on social media platforms.
Now as part of Hackensack Meridian Health’s anti-vaping campaign, nurses, doctors and medical volunteers are going to New Jersey schools to warn them of vapes, the dangers they present and of the “back-alley vendors” that sell them. “I believe it’s our duty to get into the schools and do that,” said Costanzo, who volunteers for the campaign.
Backers are also spreading awareness to parents, grandparents, educators and other professionals in the health care community to raise their levels of awareness about vapes — what they are, how they are used and the dangers they pose.
According to the CDC, more than 1,000 patients have been treated for lung injuries associated with vaping throughout the country. Of that number, 23 patients have died, including a 17-year-old Bronx native — the youngest fatality in the U.S. More than one-third of the patients treated for vaping-related illness are 20 and younger. The number of adolescents vaping has grown exponentially.
The network also announced that the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine will conduct a public health study at Seton Hall University “to identify the health impact from vaping and identifying best practices to combat the epidemic at a cost of $750,000 million.”
“You only have two lungs,” Hanhan said. “You’re causing damage to something that does not regenerate and could really impair your quality of life — maybe not now, but in a few short decades.”
