Vapers Reported Adverse Health Effects Online for Years: Study

Researchers mined an electronic cigarette users’ online discussion forum and found reports of headaches, coughing, itching, and throat pain.

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An analysis of language on an electronic cigarette users’ online discussion forum shows vapers reported adverse health effects online for at least seven years, long before vaping-associated pulmonary illness, or VAPI, was recognized by the medical community last summer, researchers reported January 3 in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

“The sudden uptick in symptoms and conditions related to VAPI comes at least 10 years after e-cigarette products gained widespread popularity in the United States, including the rise in popularity of JUUL and marijuana vape products,” Prue Talbot, a professor of cell biology at the University of California, Riverside, who led the research, says in a media release. “Our data, which shows many of the symptoms characterizing the current patients have been reported online for at least seven years, suggests cases similar to those in the current VAPI epidemic have existed previously and been unreported or simply ...

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Meet the Author

  • Ashley Yeager

    Ashley started at The Scientist in 2018. Before joining the staff, she worked as a freelance editor and writer, a writer at the Simons Foundation, and a web producer at Science News, among other positions. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a master’s degree in science writing from MIT. Ashley edits the Scientist to Watch and Profile sections of the magazine and writes news, features, and other stories for both online and print.

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