Association Between E-Cigarette Use and Visual in the United States

PURPOSE: To determine whether there is an association between e-cigarette use and visual impairment in the United States adult population. DESIGN: Cross-sectional. METHODS: In this population survey study, we re-viewed 1,173,646 adults >= 18 years of age from all 50 United States and 3 U.S. territories with self-reported responses to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's 2016-2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) annual telephone survey. We reviewed e-cigarette use (current, former, or never), as assessed by the questions: Have you ever used an e-cigarette or other electronic vaping product, even just one time, in your entire life? and Do you now use e-cigarettes or other electronic vaping products every day, some days, or not at all? The primary outcome measure was visual impairment, defined as a binary outcome yes or no to the question, Are you blind or do you have serious difficulty seeing, even when wearing glasses? RESULTS: After excluding missing data, there were 1,173,646 participants. The adjusted odds ratio of visual impairment in current e-cigarette users compared with never e-cigarette users was 1.34 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.20-1.48), and in former e-cigarette users was 1.14 (95% CI 1.06-1.22). In the subgroup of 662,033 never users of traditional cigarettes (weighted 59.6% of study population), the adjusted odds ratio of visual impairment in current e-cigarette users compared with never e-cigarette users was 1.96 (95% CI 1.48-2.61) and in former e-cigarette users was 1.02 (95% CI 0.89-1.18). CONCLUSIONS: Current compared with never e-cigarette usage was associated with a higher odds of visual impairment in the BRFSS 2016-2018 population, independent of traditional cigarette use. (C) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

According to the survey data of American adults, current use of e-cigarettes is associated with visual impairment, independent of traditional cigarette use.