A massive new report on tobacco use published by the U.S. Surgeon General has found that gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans vape at significantly higher rates than their straight peers.
Nearly 40% have tried e-cigarettes compared to 16.5% of their straight counterparts, the report says. That number rose to nearly 50% among bisexual Americans. Conclusive data on transgender users was unavailable, the authors noted.
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The report classified electronic cigarettes as e-cigars, e-pipes, e-hookahs, vaping pens, and hookah pens. They’ve been the tobacco product of choice among all young adults and youth since 2014.
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The younger the LGBTQ+ population, the higher the rate of use, the study found. More than 42% of young adults and 56% of high school students who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual reported vaping, compared with 30.3% and 49.8% among their straight peers.
36 million U.S. adults and 760,000 middle and high school students consume tobacco products in some form, the 837-page report reveals. That’s a 30% drop to 11.5% of all Americans who use tobacco today versus 42.4% in 1965, an indication of the success of anti-tobacco campaigns in the interim.
Vaping’s popularity among certain populations threatens that progress.
“These and other noncombustible tobacco products such as nicotine pouches have the potential to undermine overall progress in preventing and reducing young people’s use of tobacco products,” the report’s authors wrote.
The study’s co-editor, Kristy Marynak, a senior science adviser at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, characterized tobacco use as “a singular health threat to LGBTQAI+ communities.”
“This report finds that nearly 1 in 5 of all deaths in the United States are caused by tobacco, and it shines a light on the disproportionate burden borne by certain communities, including LGBTQAI+ communities.”
Use of e-cigarettes produce a number of dangerous chemicals, including acetaldehyde, acrolein, and formaldehyde. Like more traditional forms of tobacco delivery, they cause lung and heart disease, according to the American Lung Association.
Also common to both cigarettes and the electronic version is the presence of nicotine, an addictive chemical that fuels anxiety and depression and can inhibit brain development in younger users.
One factor that contributes to high rates of vaping and other forms of tobacco delivery among the LGBTQ+ community, the report found, is targeted advertising in queer media by tobacco companies promoting those products. The report noted the same corporations donate to organizations focused on promoting LGBTQ+ rights and Pride initiatives.
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