New studies suggest that vaporization can cloud your thoughts

Two new studies from the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) have found an association between vaporization and mental fog. Both adults and children who smoke are more likely to report difficulty concentrating, remembering or making decisions than their non-smoking colleagues. It also seemed that children were more likely to suffer from mental fog if they started to vaporize before the age of 14.

Although other studies have found an association between vaping and mental disability in animals, the URMC team is the first to establish this connection in people. Led by Dongmei Li, Ph.D., an associate professor at the URMC Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences, the team collected data from two major national surveys.

“Our studies add to the evidence that vaporization should not be considered a safe alternative to smoking,” said study author Li.

The studies, published in journals Tobacco-Induced Diseases and Plos One, analyzed more than 18,000 responses from elementary and high school students to the National Youth Tobacco Survey and more than 886,000 responses to the telephone survey by the US Adult Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System. Both surveys ask similar questions about smoking and vaporizing habits, as well as issues of memory, attention and mental function.

Both studies show that people who smoke and vaporize – regardless of age – are more likely to report problems with mental function. Behind this group, people who only vaporize or just smoke reported mental fog at similar rates, which were significantly higher than those reported by people who do not smoke or vaporize.

The youth study also found that students who reported starting to vaporize early – between eight and 13 years of age – were more likely to report difficulty concentrating, remembering or making decisions than those who started vaporizing at age 14 or older.

“With the recent rise in teen smoke, this is very worrying and suggests that we need to intervene even earlier,” said Li. “Prevention programs that start in elementary or high school may, in fact, be too late.”

Adolescence is a critical period for brain development, especially for higher-order mental functions, which means that preadolescents and adolescents may be more susceptible to nicotine-induced brain changes. Although electronic cigarettes do not have many of the dangerous compounds found in tobacco cigarettes, they deliver the same amount or even more nicotine.

Although URMC studies clearly show an association between vaporization and mental function, it is not clear which cause is which. It is possible that exposure to nicotine through vaporization causes difficulties in mental function. But it is also possible that people who report mental fog are simply more likely to smoke or vaporize – possibly self-medicating.

Li and his team say that further studies that follow children and adults over time are needed to analyze the cause and effect of vaporization and mental fog.