Does Vaping, in Addition to Smoking, Increase the Risk for Lung Cancer?

By: Amy MacDonald, MS
Posted: Monday, April 15, 2024

M.A. Bittoni, PhD, of The Ohio State University, Columbus, and colleagues examined the potential relationship between nicotine delivery systems (vaping vs traditional smoking) and lung cancer development. Their data, presented recently at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2024 (Abstract 2213/20) revealed a threefold higher risk of lung cancer among patients who had both vaped and smoked compared with those who only smoked.

“Our results suggest that the addition of vaping to smoking greatly accelerates the risk of developing lung cancer,” stated the investigators.

The researchers examined medical records from 4,975 patients (James Cancer Hospital at The Ohio State University) with newly diagnosed, pathologically confirmed lung cancer between 2013 and 2021. They compared these patients who had cancer with 27,294 control patients without cancer who had been population-matched by gender, age, and race. To assess the relationship among vaping, smoking, and lung cancer, descriptive statistics were calculated, and logistic regression analyses were performed on both populations.

The adjusted odds ratio for patients who reported both vaping and smoking was 21.1 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 17.1–26.1) vs 6.3 (95% CI = 5.8–6.8) for patients who reported smoking only (P < .001). Of note, the increased cancer risk identified among patients who vaped was found to be consistently higher across multiple types of lung cancer, and it persisted after adjustment for several comorbidities.

Disclosure: The study authors reported no conflicts of interest.

AACR Annual Meeting 2024

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