Association Between E-Cigarettes and Asthma in Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Numerous studies have revealed the relationship between E-cigarettes and asthma but have shown inconsistent results. This study systematically evaluated the potential association between E-cigarette use and asthma in adolescents.

PubMed, Embase (Ovid), Cochrane Library, and the China Biological Medicine Database were searched for relevant articles published between database inception and February 28, 2021. The quality of included studies was evaluated using the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality assessment, and a quantitative meta-analysis was conducted to pool outcomes of ORs with 95% CIs.

A total of 10 cross-sectional studies incorporating a total of 483,948 participants were included. All the study participants were middle- and high-school students with a mean age of 15-16 years. The median prevalence of ever E-cigarette use was 11.2% (range=2.2%, 45%), and that of current use was 7.5% (range=2.7%, 25%). Overall, E-cigarette use was associated with significantly higher odds of having asthma (pooled OR=1.31, 95% CI=1.22, 1.42) than nonuse, and both current use (OR=1.36, 95% CI=1.26, 1.48) and ever use (OR=1.20, 95% CI=1.12, 1.28) showed similar associations.

This study shows that both current and ever E-cigarette use have significant associations with asthma in adolescents. This knowledge might provide potential evidence for developing primary prevention strategies and serve as a reference for public health policy.