New data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week warns that young people may be more impacted by COVID-19 than was initially thought, with patients under the age of 45 comprising more than a third of all cases, and one in five of those patients requiring hospitalization.
Although scientists still don’t have good data to explain exactly why some young people are getting very sick from the novel coronavirus, some experts are now saying that the popularity of e-cigarettes and vaping could be making a bad situation even worse.
Vaping may increase risk of serious COVID-19Columbia University pediatrician Dr. Alok Patel, an ABC News special correspondent, points out that cases of EVALI provide very real evidence that vaping can cause direct lung damage, which puts e-cigarette users in the “high-risk bracket” of those most vulnerable to serious illness from COVID-19.
“Along with decreased mucociliary clearance,” which is how healthy lungs sweep away pathogens, Dr. Sadreameli said, “vaping can increase lung inflammation and may alter other pulmonary defense mechanisms, such as by decreasing the functioning of CFTR," the protein that, when defective, causes cystic fibrosis.
“The most concerning thing from both a public health standpoint and as a pediatrician is that we don’t yet know the long-term effects of vaping,” Patel said.Adolescent e-cigarette users have been shown to have increased symptoms of chronic bronchitis, the same symptoms of chronic cough and phlegm that are seen in elderly patients with COPD.
“We should be doing the best we can to manage our health,” Dr. Patel implored. “I think the important take-home for teens in the U.S. is this: Even if they are young and healthy, they still play an important part in this.”
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