As many as four out of every adolescents and young adults who vape have modified electronic cigarettes on their own, a process known as “hacking,” a new study reported.
Between November 2022 to February 2023, researchers surveyed more than 1,000 adolescents and young adults ages 14 to 29 who had vaped at least once in the past month.
They found that more than 40 percent refilled rechargeable e-cigarettes, even though e-cigarettes are not made to be refilled. Many websites and social media accounts provide instructions on how to refill and modify their vapes, since it is more economical to reuse them.
However, these modifications also come with health risks since the refilling process may damage the device, leading to battery damage and leakage. Users can also be exposed to the e-liquid and may overdose on nicotine if the liquid is not well mixed.
Cannabis Use and Lung Injuries
The authors highlighted concern that the overlapping of cannabis and nicotine use may increase a user’s risks of lung injury.
They noted that in 2019, when e-cigarettes were at the height of popularity with younger people, an epidemic of vaping-associated lung diseases, also known as EVALI (e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung disease) broke out, leading to 2,807 hospitalizations and 68 deaths in the United States.
EVALI is a serious pulmonary condition caused by lung inflammation in the absence of a lung infection.
Patients with EVALI can develop irritated and inflamed lungs from chemicals in the vaping fluid.
The study also showed that 86 percent of the patients also reported THC-containing products three months before symptom onset.
The CDC has not identified a mechanism or pathogenesis explaining why vitamin E acetate causes lung injury.
While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates nicotine delivery devices like e-cigarettes and vapes, it does not regulate cannabis.
Sources of Information
More than half of the participants were aware of ways to refill vapes, and modify e-liquids, including adding cannabis-based liquids to the nicotine vaping fluid.Friends and social media were the most common sources of information about these practices, according to the authors. They expressed concern that 11 percent reported getting information from vape shops.
“The findings about vape shops were concerning because many participants were under the age of 21 and should not be allowed to enter vape shops,” professor Grace Kong, the lead author and associate professor of psychiatry at Yale University, said in the press release.
“Prevention and educational efforts should include the risks of modifications such as explosions and burns, as well as address cannabis vaping, given its high prevalence among [adolescents and young adults] who vape nicotine,” the authors wrote.
