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Marisa A. Bittoni, D. Carbone, Randall E. Harris | Frontiers in Oncology | (2026)
Key Takeaways
Plain English Takeaway
Young people who both vape and smoke have a much higher chance of getting lung cancer than those who only smoke. Doing both is especially risky.
Study Aim
The main goal of this study is to find out if using both vaping (inhaling nicotine through electronic cigarettes) and smoking regular cigarettes increases the risk of early onset lung cancer (lung cancer before age 50) in young adults. The researchers want to see if combining these habits is more dangerous than smoking alone.
Simply put: The study wants to know if vaping and smoking together make lung cancer more likely in young people.
Study Design
The researchers used a case-control study. They compared 256 young adults (under 50) with confirmed lung cancer to 2,921 similar people without cancer. Both groups were matched by age, sex, race, and where they lived. The study looked at their smoking and vaping habits, as well as other health problems like heart and lung disease. The team used statistical methods (logistic regression) to measure how much vaping and smoking together increased lung cancer risk compared to smoking alone.
Simply put: The study compared young people with and without lung cancer to see if vaping and smoking together is riskier than just smoking.
Findings
The study reveals that young adults who both vape and smoke have a much higher risk of lung cancer than those who only smoke. The odds of getting lung cancer were almost three times higher for people who did both compared to those who only smoked. This risk was even greater for a specific type of lung cancer called pulmonary adenocarcinoma (a cancer that starts in the cells lining the lungs). The results were similar for both men and women. The authors recommend urgent public health action to reduce vaping and smoking among young people. They also call for more research to understand the long-term effects of vaping.
Simply put: Young people who vape and smoke are much more likely to get lung cancer, so it's important to prevent both habits.
Abstract
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, including young adults. While it is well known that cigarette smoking is the dominant risk factor for lung cancer, the inhalation of heated aerosolized vaping oil has now replaced cigarette smoking as the major source of nicotine among young people. We, therefore, studied the potential role of both vaping and cigarette smoking in the development of early onset lung cancer. Using a case-control study design, we compared the smoking and vaping habits of 256 young adults (< 50 years of age) diagnosed with pathologically confirmed lung cancer to that of 2,921 control subjects without cancer that were group matched by age (within 5 years), sex, race and location to the cases. The odds ratio for those who both vaped and smoked (OR = 13.8, 95% CI: 7.7-24,9) was 2.8 times higher than for smoking alone (OR = 5.0, 95% CI: 3.7-6.9). Pulmonary adenocarcinomas accounted for 72% of the early onset lung tumors among the cases, and risk estimates for this specific cell type were 3.7 times higher for those who smoked and vaped (OR = 14.8, 95% CI = 8.0-27.4) compared to those who only smoked (OR = 4.0, 95% CI = 2.9-5.6). Our findings suggest that compared to smoking alone, vaping and smoking together accelerate lung cancer risk among young people, particularly in the development of pulmonary adenocarcinoma.
On point 2 (vapes are nonetheless harmful), I was trying to find a study that specifically compared cigarette vs smoking harm. Found this new study which compares risk of cancer between smokers, and smokers who also vape.
The study found that smokers who also vape actually had a "three-fold higher risk of lung cancer" vs smokers who didn't vape. The study didn't look at those who only vaped (but didn't smoke).
But I think a basic conclusion here is that vaping probably shouldn't be considered as "safe".