University of Bristol

Academic Institute

OFHS240132

Our project goal is to improve our understanding of what causes people to vape, and what impact vaping has on health. We have three aims to help us achieve this goal, which are: Aim 1: to identify genetic factors differences within people’s genes that make some people more likely than others to start vaping. Aim 2: to explore whether vaping leads people to start smoking and/or if there are shared risk factors that make people more likely to both smoke and vape. Aim 3: to examine how vaping affects physical health, mental health, and thinking skills, like those related to education. We will also look at whether differences in physical health, mental health, and years of education may affect vaping behaviour. Vaping may help some people stop smoking, but we don’t fully understand its long-term effects. While switching from cigarettes to vapes may reduce harm for smokers, there has been a rise in vaping among people who have never smoked. This could put them at risk for developing health issues. Health experts are concerned that vaping might increase the chances of developing or worsening mental health conditions, reduce attention, or affect physical health in other ways. As both e-cigarettes and cigarettes can contain nicotine, there’s concern that vaping could lead people to start smoking, and we know that smoking negatively impacts health. In this study, we aim to identify genetic factors that make some people more likely to vape. This information could help us understand why people differ in their vaping habits and can also help us discover if vaping is causing certain health issues or if there are underlying factors that cause both vaping and these health problems. By combining this genetic information with data from questionnaires and health records, we hope to get a clearer answer to these questions. The findings could guide public health efforts to minimize the risk of vaping, especially for people who have never smoked.

12% of people in the UK smoke, and many struggle to stop smoking without help from professionals and/or aids like nicotine patches or vapes. Although vapes can help people to stop smoking, 60% of people who smoke but have never vaped believe that vaping is equally or more harmful than smoking, and 15% choose not to try vaping to help them stop smoking because they have safety concerns. Giving the public accurate information about the benefits and harms of vaping compared to smoking could encourage those who are yet to try vaping to help them stop smoking. But not everyone vapes to stop smoking; 9% of young people (aged 11-17 years) who have never smoked have tried vaping. For these people, accurate information about the harms of vaping compared to not vaping or smoking could lead to evidence-based laws being introduced. Ideally, these laws would reduce the appeal of vapes without encouraging people to take up or continue smoking. Our study will also help us to identify who is most likely to vape so that we know who to target with information, laws, and personalized health care.

Public Health Research

14/05/2025

19/02/2025

TRE