Teens using e-cigarettes were six times more likely to transition to smoking conventional cigarettes in early adulthood than those who never vaped, according to researchers.

In the analysis of data from a large, prospectively followed cohort of high school-age children in Southern California, e-cigarette users had 6.17 times the odds (95% CI 3.30-11.6) of becoming cigarette smokers compared with never users of e-cigarettes, reported Jessica Barrington-Trimis, PhD, of the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles, and colleagues.

In addition, 36% of teen (mean age 17.4) vapers who reported little desire to use traditional tobacco products at an initial interview later reported that they were smoking cigarettes, suggesting that e-cigarette uptake is not just occurring among adolescents who would have smoked anyway, they wrote in Pediatrics.

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