Experts link teen vaping to depression and suicide risk
While often perceived as harmless because it is less dangerous than tobacco, the truth is that vaping is even more addictive, and its health implications are just as serious as those of cigarettes.
Vaping is rising at an alarming rate among South African teenagers, putting them at risk of addiction and harm to their developing brains and mental health.
In a survey conducted in 52 high schools across South Africa, 17.82% of the learners between grades 8 and 12 reported currently using vaping products with 47% vaping within the first hour of waking, suggesting high nicotine addiction. In addition to this 36.7% reported having tried vaping previously.
Research shows that nicotine in vapes can severely impair the developing teenage brain, leading to cognitive difficulties, mental health issues like depression and anxiety, and increased risks of violence, substance use, and suicidal thoughts.
According to a South African study, at least a quarter of South African Grade 12 learners admit to vaping regularly, both as a social activity and stress-coping mechanism, and usage filters down through all high school grades to primary school learners.
While teenagers are well-attuned to the health and addiction risks of conventional cigarettes, the real risks of vaping are obscured by funky flavours and packaging, aggressively youth-targeted marketing and misconceptions about safety, warns member of the South African Society of Psychiatrists (SASOP), Dr Nokuthula Mdaka.
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'The brain is still developing up until the age of about 25. The adolescent brain is particularly susceptible to nicotine, which not only 'primes' the brain for addiction but also harms the areas of the brain involved in attention and learning, mood regulation and impulse control.'
Dr Mdaka added that concerns about the rise and potential harm of vaping amongst teenagers extends to 'non-nicotine' vapes – as they are similarly habit-forming with potential to lead to other substance use, mental health issues, and they carry similar physical health risks from the chemical components over and above nicotine.
The link between vaping and mental health is 'bi-directional.' Teens with mental health issues may use vaping to cope, which can worsen conditions like depression and anxiety.
'There is substantial published evidence that teenagers with existing depression or depressive symptoms are more likely to begin vaping, while the incidence of depression, considering suicide and suicide attempts are higher in teenagers that do vape, than in those who don't.
'That half of vape shops in South Africa are within a 5 km radius of a tertiary education institution campus comes as no surprise."
'The danger in the ready availability of vaping products is that young people are being exposed to the harmful effects of nicotine and showing signs of addiction at increasingly earlier ages."
A further concern arises from a local study that found a link between vaping and poor nutrition in young people aged 18-34, with half of vape users consuming unhealthy foods, as well as having lower fruit and vegetable intake than non-smokers and non-vapers. The main factors were money spent on vapes rather than on healthy food, and perceptions that vaping could assist in weight loss.
While vaping is promoted as a means to stop conventional cigarette smoking, Dr Mdaka said the evidence was unconvincing, and could lead to individuals smoking more as vaping appears to be more socially acceptable.
She pointed to the 2022 South African E-Cigarette Survey, which found that one in five (19%) users with no previous smoking history started smoking conventional cigarettes only after using e-cigarettes, while only one in eight (13%) quit conventional smoking after taking up e-cigarettes.
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According to the Tobacco Data Control Initiative, which led the survey, vapes, e-cigarettes and similar products pose health risks to both users and those exposed to the 'second-hand' aerosol emissions, whether they contain nicotine or are nicotine-free. The products have been shown to contain toxicants, carcinogens and flavouring chemicals which can affect the eyes, cause allergic reactions, contribute to fatigue and depression, and affect the respiratory, digestive and central nervous systems.
While marketers of vaping products claim that the aerosol emitted is 'nothing more than water vapour', studies have shown that the particles delivered by vapes are similar to those of cigarettes, and that they reach deep into the lungs and cross into the circulatory system.
Vaping products also contain more than 20 harmful and potentially harmful chemicals at significantly higher levels than in conventional cigarettes.
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