Eight Teens Have Been Hospitalized For Lung Damage, Likely Caused By Vaping

• Eight teenagers were hospitalized for severe lung damage in Wisconsin.
• Vaping is suspected to be the cause of the lung problems, which included coughing, shortness of breath, and fatigue.
• E-cigarettes also increase risk of heart attack, according to a 2018 study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Eight teenagers from Wisconsin were reportedly hospitalized for severe lung damage, suspected to be due to vaping, according to CBS News. They were all admitted to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin with extreme cough, shortness of breath, and fatigue.

Some of them needed assistance in order to breathe. And while many of the adolescents responded to steroid treatment, and seven were released without needing supplemental oxygen at home, one student remains hospitalized.

But that wasn’t the only symptoms they reported—the teens reportedly had lost weight from vomiting and diarrhea (yikes).

To further complicate matters, it’s not totally clear exactly what the students were vaping that may have caused lung problems. In early interviews, the teens mentioned that they may have been vaping nicotine and THC (the chemical in marijuana that gives it its high).

Another part of the problem here is that these high schoolers are likely too young to even be vaping in the first place. It’s illegal for anyone under 18 to buy any kind of device that delivers nicotine—including e-cigs. But that doesn’t mean it never happens.

The issue isn’t just e-cigs themselves. Watch this video to learn why the flavors can also be harmful to your heart:

“Part of the problem is that e-cigarettes can be bought on the internet, and kids are very savvy and can easily get around controls,” Ana María Rule, PhD, author and assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, previously told Women’s Health.

In fact, more than two million teenagers in the U.S. are vaping, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But it’s not just teens that are vaping. Vaping is officially an epidemic right now, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

That’s because, besides likely causing lung problems, vaping also puts you more at risk of heart attack. A 2018 study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, which combined data from two national surveys of nearly 70,000 people in 2014 and 2016, and found that daily use of e-cigarettes may double a person’s odds of a heart attack.

While the long-term effects of vaping on heart health and cancer risk are not yet known, that’s because the practice hasn’t been around long enough to be studied for any significant period of time. It remains to be seen what health concerns may arise in the future.

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