“Vapes were initially marketed as a potential solution to tobacco smoking with claims that they could be a less harmful alternative.
The study, published in the journal Children, was based on a national survey of 38,299 students in grades 9 to 12.
“Previous research tended to focus on vape use as a unitary behaviour, despite the fact that some individuals vape with nicotine and others with nicotine-free products.
Seabrook also points out that the higher likelihood of dual-use vaping among grade 9 students warrants further investigation, as it may be related to behavioural and cultural pressures associated with transitioning to high school.
“Since this was a cross-sectional analysis and we studied all the different age groups at the same time, we could not establish that dual vaping is leading to an increase in exclusive nicotine vaping.