The increase in the use of various electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) among the young population leads to earlier appearance of nicotine addiction and health disorders, thus electronic cigarettes may be perceived by the public as a less harmful alternative to conventional cigarettes or as a way to stop smoking.
OBJECTIVE
To study the relationships between combined use of ENDS and other tobacco products and health and to identify factors associated with the electronic cigarettes use as a way of smoking cessation by persons aged from 18 to 35 years.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
A sociological survey was conducted among the population aged 18—35 years since 12 May 2022 yr. to 15 December 2022 yr. according to a questionnaire developed by the authors, which consisted of two sections: description of respondents’ demographic data (sex, age) and information on smoking of electronic cigarettes and the presence of diseases. Statistical data processing was carried out using IBM SPSS Statistics software (version 26.0) and Microsoft Excel 2016.
RESULTS
A number of respondents equal 631 aged 18—35 years took part in the survey. The majority (59.1%) of respondents indicated that they used ENDS for smoking, with about 35% considering them safer than regular cigarettes. Respondents who combined tobacco products with electronic cigarettes noted the presence of cough statistically significantly more often (p=0.003). At the same time, respondents who smoked only electronic cigarettes more frequently indicated the presence of oral diseases (p=0.014). The presence of cough (p=0.214), lung diseases (p=0.803), heart diseases (p=0.56) and oral diseases (p=0.269) did not influence on the decision to use electronic cigarettes as a smoking cessation method. In addition, respondents more often smoked them daily (p=0.004) and had a long-term, more than 5 years (p=0.002), smoking electronic cigarettes history.
CONCLUSION
The study results showed a high frequency of electronic nicotine delivery systems use by young people and an insufficient awareness of the harm from their use.
