Young teens who vape and smoke cigarettes may be setting themselves up to be heavy smokers by the time they are older teens, a new study suggests. The researchers chalked it up to what they called the “entrenchment hypothesis.” “There has been a lot of attention on restricting e-cigarettes, so that they do not serve as a pathway into tobacco initiation,” said senior study author Jeremy Staff, a professor of sociology and criminology at Pennsylvania State University. “Our findings highlight that considering their impacts on youth who initiate smoking at an early age remains important as well.” Staff said, “Among early-smoking teens in both the U.K. and U.S., those who had vaped before age 15 were more likely to be smokers, as well as frequent tobacco smokers, by the time they reached late adolescence.” This study can’t prove that cigarette smoking and vaping cause heavier tobacco smoking in the late teens, only that there appears to be a connection, the researchers noted. E-cigarette use among teens who already smoke early in adolescence generates more harmful patterns of tobacco use later on in adolescence, said lead researcher Brian Kelly, from the department of sociology at Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Ind. “Many studies on youth vaping focus on the important goal of prevention of smoking, but less often consider youth who begin smoking early,” Kelly said.…  read on >  read on >

Nearly one-third of Americans live in counties with unhealthy air, according to a new report from the American Lung Association. One in three, or 120 million, people lives with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution, the “State of the Air” report says. While air quality has improved overall, there are major differences between Eastern and Western states and in air pollution exposure for white people and people of color, according to the association. “The good news is that ozone pollution has generally improved across the nation, thanks in large part to the success of the Clean Air Act. In this year’s ‘State of the Air’ report, we found that 19.3 million fewer people are living in areas with unhealthy levels of ozone pollution, also known as smog,” said Harold Wimmer, national president and CEO of the association. “However, the fact is that 120 million people still live in places with unhealthy air pollution, and not all communities are seeing improvements. This is why it is crucial to continue our efforts to ensure that every person in the U.S. has clean air to breathe,” Wimmer added in an association news release. The report, which covers 2019 to 2021, found about 54% of those living with unhealthy air quality were Black Americans and other minorities. People of color were 64% more likely to live in a…  read on >  read on >

Depression during pregnancy may be linked to heart disease as soon as two years later, new research suggests. This is true even when patients don’t have high blood pressure during pregnancy, the research team reports April 19 in the Journal of the American Heart Association. “We need to use pregnancy as a window to future health,” said lead study author Dr. Christina Ackerman-Banks, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology-maternal fetal medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. “Complications during pregnancy, including prenatal depression, impact long-term cardiovascular health,” she said in a journal news release. “The postpartum period provides an opportunity to counsel and screen people for cardiovascular disease in order to prevent these outcomes.” About 20% of women experience depression during pregnancy, the researchers noted. They shouldn’t panic as the study doesn’t prove a direct cause-and-effect relationship between depression and heart disease, only an association. Researchers found the most significant association was between depression and ischemic heart disease (narrowed arteries), with depressed women having an 83% higher risk of developing the condition within two years of delivery than those without a depression diagnosis. When arteries are narrowed, less blood and oxygen reach the heart muscle. This can lead to heart attack, the American Heart Association explains. “I recommend that anyone diagnosed with prenatal depression be aware of the implications on…  read on >  read on >