News
Chemicals in Vaping Flavors Cause Widespread Damage to Lung Tissue
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
New research appearing in the journal Scientific Reports unpacks the list of chemicals that comprise flavored e-liquids and pods used in vaping and details their harmful effects to lung tissue, including inflammation and genetic damage that could indicate long-term risk for respiratory disease and even cancer.
"While names like mango, cucumber, and mint give the impression that the flavors in e-juices are benign, the reality is that these sensations are derived from chemicals," said Irfan Rahman, Ph.D., a professor in the University of Rochester Medical Center's (URMC) Department of Environmental Medicine and lead author of the study. "These findings indicate that exposure to these chemicals triggers damage and dysfunction in the lungs that are a precursor to long-term health consequences."
Other than propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin, which form the base of vaping liquids, and nicotine, most manufacturers do not disclose the chemical compounds used to create the flavors in vaping products.
Employing mass spectrometry, the researchers identified almost 40 different chemicals present in various combinations in seven flavors manufactured by JUUL. These include hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds, many of which have industrial uses and are known to be harmful if inhaled.
JUUL -- which accounts for more than 70 percent of all vaping product sales in the U.S. -- has recently halted sales of most of its flavored pods and several states, including New York, are in the process of banning these products. However, many other companies and independent vape shops continue to manufacture and sell an estimated 8,000 different flavored e-juices and pods.
In the study, researchers exposed human lung tissue -- including bronchial epithelial cells, which play an important role in the exchange of gases, and monocytes, an infection-fighting cell in the immune system -- to aerosolized vapor from the flavor pods. They observed that the chemicals provoked inflammation and degraded the integrity of the epithelial cells, a condition that could eventually lead to acute lung injury and respiratory illness. Exposure also damaged DNA in the cells, a potential precursor to cancer. The study showed that menthol flavor, which JUUL continues to sell, is equally as harmful as other flavors.
"Vaping technology has only existed for a short period of time and its use, particularly among younger people, has only recently exploded," said Rahman. "This study gives further evidence that vaping -- while less harmful than combustible tobacco in the short run -- is placing chronic users on the path to significant health problems later in life."
Rahman helps lead the WNY Center for Research on Flavored Tobacco Products (CRoFT), a partnership between researchers at URMC and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo to study the health effects of one of the fastest-growing trends in tobacco use. The Center is supported by a $19 million grant from the federal Food and Drug Administration's Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science program.
Additional co-authors of the Scientific Reports study include Thivanka Muthumalage and Thomas Lamb with URMC, and Michelle Friedman the College of Brockport, State University of New York. The study was funded with support from the National Cancer Institute and CRoFT.
Hot on the trail of a scourge
Thursday, November 7, 2019
Irfan Rahman might be area smoke shops' best customer.
In the last few years, Rahman has haunted local smoke shops, amassing what might the largest collection of vaping devices and supplies in the state. It could conceivably be a contender for the country's largest collection.
In a recent visit to Elite, a Henrietta vape shop and cigar store, Rahman barked rapid-fire orders directing store co-owner Gibran Mehta to add scores of oils to a mounting pile of vaping products as Mehta described the various flavorings and nicotine content of oils, taking occasional hits off an e-cigarette as he worked.
Despite his loyal patronage, Irfan laments, a couple of the smoke shops he frequents temporarily banned him.
"It was when they noticed this," says Rahman, holding out a tag dangling from a lanyard he wears around his neck. The tag identifies him as a URMC research scientist. Putting two and two together, he explains, some shop owners began to suspect that Rahman, a non-smoker and no fan of vaping, might be using his trove of vaping supplies to make a case against vaping.
Shop owners who banned him have now relented, but their fears are far from unfounded.
Vaping involves inhalation of nicotine or the cannabis-derived substances THC and CBD in a cloud of vapor rather than in smoke produced by "combustibles" like cigarettes, cigars or pipes. In vaping, a handheld, battery-operated device heats an oil emulsion containing nicotine, THC or CBD.
At URMC, Rahman heads a laboratory that is delving into vaping's possible ill effects. He also is part of a joint URMC-Roswell Park team working under a 2018 $19 million National Institutes of Health grant to study the effects of flavored tobacco. He is working with New York's Department of Health too.
Projects Rahman is currently leading include an investigation into the toxicology of flavored e-cigarettes and toxicity of nicotine delivered by e-cigarettes.
University of Rochester Researchers Discuss Vaping-Related Lung Injury on the Today Show
Thursday, October 31, 2019
University of Rochester Environmental Health Sciences Center members Daniel Croft, M.D., M.P.H., and Irfan Rahman, Ph.D., were featured on a Today Show segment about vaping-related lung injury. In the segment, Rahman is shown working in his lab while Croft discussed the symptoms associated with this condition.
Rahman uses cell, mouse, and human studies to investigate how flavoring chemicals used in vaping devices affect lung health. He also analyzes vaping liquid collected from patients and hospitals around the world to better understand its chemical makeup. Croft, a clinician researcher who focuses on inhalation toxicology, helps interpret the clinical relevance of findings from the lab and collaborates on a study to better understand respiratory effects in people who vape.
How environmental toxins impair immune system over multiple generations
Thursday, October 17, 2019
New research shows that maternal exposure to a common and ubiquitous form of industrial pollution can harm the immune system of offspring and that this injury is passed along to subsequent generations, weakening the body's defenses against infections such as the influenza virus.
The study was led by Paige Lawrence, Ph.D., with the University of Rochester Medical Center's (URMC) Department of Environmental Medicine and appears in the Cell Press journal iScience. The research was conducted in mice, whose immune system function is similar to humans.
"The old adage 'you are what you eat' is a touchstone for many aspects of human health," said Lawrence. "But in terms of the body's ability to fights off infections, this study suggests that, to a certain extent, you may also be what your great-grandmother ate."
While other studies have shown that environmental exposure to pollutants can have effects on the reproductive, respiratory, and nervous system function across multiple generations, the new research shows for the first time that the immune system is impacted as well.
This multigenerational weakening of the immune system could help explain variations that are observed during seasonal and pandemic flu episodes. Annual flu vaccines provide some people more protection than others, and during pandemic flu outbreaks some people get severely ill, while others are able to fight off the infection. While age, virus mutations, and other factors can explain some of this variation, they do not fully account for the diversity of responses to flu infection found in the general population.
"When you are infected or receive a flu vaccine, the immune system ramps up the production of specific kinds of white blood cells in response," said Lawrence. "The larger the response, the larger the army of white blood cells, enhancing the ability of the body to successfully fight off an infection. Having a smaller size army — which we see across multiple generations of mice in this study — means that you're at risk for not fighting the infection as effectively."
In the study, researchers exposed pregnant mice to environmentally relevant levels of a chemical called dioxin, which, like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), is a common by-product of industrial production and waste incineration, and is also found in some consumer products. These chemicals find their way into the food system where they are eventually consumed by humans. Dioxins and PCBs bio-accumulate as they move up the food chain and are found in greater concentrations in animal-based food products. The scientists observed the production and function of cytotoxic T cells — white blood cells that defend the body against foreign pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria, and seek out and destroy cells with mutations that could lead to cancer — was impaired when the mice were infected with influenza A virus.
Michael O’Reilly Named Director of Lung Biology & Disease Program
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
Michael O'Reilly, professor of Pediatrics—Neonatology, has been named the director of the Lung Biology and Disease Program, administered by the Department of Environmental Medicine. O'Reilly has a secondary appointment as professor of Environmental Medicine and is a member of the Environmental Health Sciences Center.
O'Reilly's research focuses on how neonatal hyperoxia causes pulmonary and vascular diseases, heart failure, and other adverse health outcomes, and how the DNA damage responsive ataxia telangiectasia mutated gene controls lung epithelial regeneration. His research was the first to demonstrate that oxygen-induced DNA damage signaling stimulates expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21 that promotes survival by maintaining expression of anti-apoptotic proteins independent of its ability to inhibit proliferation. He also found that neonatal hyperoxia enhances the pathogenesis of influenza A virus by depleting alveolar epithelial cells required for alveolar regeneration. Funding from the National Institutes of Health, the American Lung Association, the American Heart Association, and the March of Dimes has supported O'Reilly's research for more than 20 years.
O'Reilly has authored over 100 peer-reviewed research articles, reviews, and book chapters. He has trained two junior faculty, three post-doctoral fellows, ten graduate students and has served on nearly 30 PhD thesis committees. He has served on a number of NIH study sections and special emphasis panels. From 2012-2014, he served on the Board of Directors for the Genesee Valley-Finger Lakes Chapter of the March of Dimes.
After completing two post-doctoral fellowships at the NIH, O'Reilly joined the faculty of URMC in 1995. He earned his PhD in developmental biology from the University of Cincinnati under the mentorship of Dr. Jeffrey Whitsett. His post-doctoral training was completed with Drs. Michael Sporn and Anita Roberts at the National Cancer Institute and with Dr. Heiner Westphal at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Recent paper by Christina Post, Lawrence Lab Featured on Futurity
Thursday, October 3, 2019
Did you know that your great-grandmother's exposure to industrial pollution may affect how you respond to respiratory viral infections? A recent paper published in iScience, by Christina Post, a graduate student in Toxicology and Dr. Paige Lawrence, the Chair of Environmental Medicine shows how a common industrial pollutant called dioxin weakens how immune cells respond to influenza A virus infections when given to pregnant mice. Surprisingly, the changes in how the offspring respond to infection were passed on for two more generations! The findings are important because they suggest ancestral environmental exposures may contribute to the efficacy of annual flu vaccinations (maybe place the Futurity link here or not use it at all?).
New York’s e-cigarette ban throws URMC research into question
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Irfan Rahman's laboratory sits at the end of a long hallway on the third floor of the University of Rochester's School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Inside, Rahman and a team of researchers take apart e-cigarettes. They analyze the liquid that the devices turn into an inhalable vapor in an effort to figure out exactly what it's made of.
The lab's work has taken on growing importance as the number of deaths and injuries attributed to e-cigarettes across the country continues to rise.
"We are the national leaders in this research," Rahman said. "We are doing work here that can save lives. These are very, very grave health problems."
But New York state's action to ban flavored e-cigarettes last week threw their ability to do that research into question.
The state's emergency regulations ban possession of flavored e-cigarette liquids, with no exemption for research.
URMC shares a $19 million federal grant with the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo that funds the institutions' research into e-cigarettes. It's an emerging field that investigators said is designed around questions of how flavored tobacco products affect the body and mind.
The realization that the rules did not carve out an exception for researchers led the CEOs of Roswell Park and URMC to send a joint letter to Howard Zucker, the commissioner of the state health department, urging him to allow their research to continue.
Drs. Rahman and Croft Featured on NBC News Story
Friday, September 6, 2019
Professor of Environmental Medicine, Dr. Irfan Rahman and Assistant Professor of Medicine, Dr. Daniel Croft were interviewed September 5th by NBC News about recent hospitalizations related to e-cigarettes. The story highlighted URMC e-cigarette research, along with pulmonary and critical care at SMH.
The story is expected to air during the second half of Nightly News with Lester Holt on September 5th, and September 6th on the Today Show. It will feature a patient in Utah who suffered serious lung damage after vaping THC, along with Irfan's explanation of e-cigarette research during his lab tour with Anne, and Dan's interview about Strong's response to the recent outbreak of vaping-related illnesses.
Congratulations to Dr. Rahman and Dr. Croft!
Health advisory urges caution with e-cigarettes
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
A health advisory from the federal Centers for Disease Control has linked e-cigarettes to severe respiratory problems, though the agency said the exact cause is still unclear.
The CDC urged people to avoid using e-cigarette products bought from unlicensed sellers, citing health effects that researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center said reflect a poorly regulated industry.
Irfan Rahman, who directs research into e-cigarettes at URMC, said the severity of the cases outpaced what he expected.
"We were anticipating some responses, but not to this extent. This is very surprising to us, actually, what happened," Rahman said.
Some cases of pneumonia treated locally have been so severe that patients needed to be placed on a ventilator or have a breathing tube inserted into their throat, said Rahman.
A team at URMC is looking into how e-cigarettes sold in the Rochester area differ from those sold in other markets. Researchers are seeking to discern how exactly e-cigarettes sold locally are affecting people in greater Rochester.
"We buy locally," Rahman said. "I am well-known in the shops."
Rahman said his team has over 800 local e-cigarettes to analyze in the lab.
Dr. Rahman Interviewed on LA Talk Radio show, Uncommon Conversations
Monday, July 1, 2019
On June 27, 2019, Dr. Irfan Rahman was interviewed on the LA Talk Radio show, Uncommon Conversations with Maryam Zar and John Harlow. Dr. Rahman spoke on current trends and emergence of vaping, toxicity, and human health effects with regulation. To listen to Dr. Rahman's interview visit the episode's podcast page.
Rahman is a Leader in the Field of Environmental and Tobacco-related Lung Diseases
Monday, May 6, 2019
Irfan Rahman Designated an American Thoracic Society Fellow
The American Thoracic Society (ATS) designated Irfan Rahman, Ph.D., an ATS Fellow for his research on chronic lung inflammatory diseases. ATS awarded Rahman this distinction to recognize his accomplishments, dedication, and contributions to ATS and to the field of pulmonary medicine. Rahman is an endowed Dean's professor of environmental medicine, pulmonary medicine, and public health sciences at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) and a member of the URMC Environmental Health Sciences Center (EHSC).
Since joining the URMC in 2003, Rahman has gained international recognition for his research on the prevention and treatment of smoking-induced lung diseases and has published more than 250 papers. Thomson Reuters, a news and information publishing company, recognized him as one of the most highly cited researchers of 2014, 2015, and 2016. He has been a leader in elucidating mechanisms of environmental and tobacco-related pulmonary diseases.
Rahman has also been elected to serve on boards of several esteemed academic journals including Nature Scientific Report, the Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Experimental Lung Research, Journal of Inflammation, and Frontiers in Pharmacology, where he is an associate editor. With ATS, he has served as a program committee member and as chair for numerous symposia sessions on lung disease research. Through community education efforts, Rahman has also educated people about the dangers of smoking and other exposures in India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Rahman credits the EHSC with driving the development of his research programs in circadian biology, chromatin remodeling, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence, inflammation, and oxidants related to the impacts of environmental agents, flavoring chemicals in e-cigarettes, and tobacco products on lung pathology. He noted that the EHSC provided him critical support to generate preliminary data that helped him secure additional funding for his research.
One area of Rahman's research focuses on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), considered the third major cause of death worldwide. Among cigarette smokers and people who live in polluted areas, COPD is a major factor in declining lung function, and there are no effective treatments to halt this decline. Rahman's team is identifying specific cellular and molecular pathways that contribute to COPD. He hopes to uncover pathways that may be targeted for treatments and interventions to slow the disease process.
Recently, Rahman has discovered several exciting potential therapies that may prevent tobacco-related lung complications from progressing. For example, in an experimental COPD model in mice, Rahman's team exposed mice to environmental tobacco smoke and then measured DNA damage and cellular senescence, which is when cells cease to divide due to aging. They compared normal mice to genetically altered mice lacking the gene for histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2), an enzyme that affects DNA structure and gene expression. They found that mice lacking HDAC2 showed greater DNA damage-induced inflammatory responses and lung function declines after exposure to cigarette smoke. In addition, mice lacking HDAC2 had increased markers of cellular senescence. Based on these data, Rahman suggests that compounds that activate HDAC2 might be useful for treatment of smoking-related lung diseases like COPD.
Over the years Rahman has successfully mentored several Ph.D. students and postdoctoral and clinical fellows. He considers the accomplishments of his trainees one of the most important testaments of his scientific and academic accomplishments in pulmonary research.
Rahman's research is supported by the following grants from NIH: R21ES028006 (NIEHS), R01HL135613 (NHLBI), R01HL137738 (NHLBI), R01DA042470 (NIDA), and U54CA228110 (NCI).
Rahman Named One of the Founding Chairs of the Lung Aging Research Group of ATS
Friday, May 3, 2019
Congratulations to Dr. Irfan Rahman, who has been named one of the Founding Chairs of the Lung Aging Research Group of the American Thoracic Society.
Chairs
Irfan Rahman, PhD, ATSF
GR Scott Budinger, MD
Louise Hecker, Ph.D
Our main goal is to increase our awareness and disseminate knowledge of the pathophysiological mechanisms of aging in the lungs with interests in terms of basic biology of aging in debilitating lung diseases including critical care and geriatric aging. We aim to thus contribute to the larger mission of the current Interesting Group of Aging.
This group will bring together lung researchers (including early career members, MDs, MD-PhDs, and PhDs) who are interested in understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of aging and age-related lung diseases, and forms a forum for discussion on hallmarks of lung aging and associated diseases.
Objectives:
- To increase the knowledge of the physiological and accelerated mechanisms of aging in the lungs in collaboration with clinical and critical care geriatric disciplines
- To enhance overall visibility and advance the knowledge of aging of the lung and mechanisms of age-related lung diseases
- To target age-associated dysfunction: Advancing knowledge of age-associated therapeutic targets that may promote enhanced repair
- To highlight the impact on global health burden of age-associated lung diseases e.g. environmental aspect of aging (biomass, wildfire, ashes, diesel exhausts) in all population including geriatric.
- Age-related diseases development and therapeutic targeting age
- Dissemination of knowledge by including NIA and NHLBI researchers including critical care research programs
Jared Mereness successfully defends thesis
Thursday, March 14, 2019

Last week, Jared Mereness successfully defended his PhD Thesis. Since arriving at the University of Rochester in 2012, Jared has worked with his advisor, Tom Mariani, and studied Lung and Pulmonary diseases. During his studies Jared was awarded an institutional T32 Training Grant in Pulmonary Research, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Med-Into-Grad Fellowship in Translational Cardiovascular Research at the University of Rochester. Jared's research and thesis has focused on describing the role of the extracellular matrix component, collagen 6, in lung structure, and its effects on the function of pulmonary epithelial cells. His findings broaden our understanding of potential roles this unique extracellular matrix protein may have in chronic lung disease and the development and maintenance of lung structure. Soon Jared will begin a Postdoc position in Danielle Benoit's laboratory in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Rochester. Congratulations Jared!
For further Reading, please see: PLOS ONE: Type VI collagen promotes lung epithelial cell spreading and wound-closure by Mereness et al.

NYS Lawmakers vote to raise the smoking age from 18 to 21 - Rahman Lab interviewed
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Lawmakers in the New York state Assembly have voted to raise the smoking age from 18 to 21.
The legislation, which passed the Democrat-led chamber on Wednesday, prohibits the sale of tobacco, as well as electronic cigarettes, to anyone under 21.
"I always thought that we were going to be the generation to stop smoking and then all of these new products came out and we are at step one," said Monica Jackson, a research assistant at the University of Rochester.
She said she doesn't smoke, but some of her friends do.
"I think just educating people and putting it in their heads this is not good for us," she added.
Jackson is part of a team of researchers at the university, including Dr. Irfan Rahman. Dr. Rahman has been helping conduct a study on the impacts of smoking and vaping for more than 10 years. Some of his work has also been published.
"This is really bad for high schoolers and middle schoolers when their lungs are developing, and if they vape it's interfering with lung development," he explained.
When asked about raising the age to buy tobacco and e-cigarettes, Dr. Rahman said it won't do much.
"The problem will never be solved by increasing the age. Overall it will not address the issue of toxicity and diseases," he said.
Throughout the years, Dr. Rahman says he's studied the evolution of different products to consume tobacco and nicotine.
When it comes to research on Juul products, he said, "we found metals such as copper, we published a paper, we found lung injuries, inflammation and stress in the lungs."
The elevated smoking age is already the law in seven states, and several cities around the country, including New York City.
Some people think passing such a law is going too far.
"The idea for them to choose when they finish high school when they become adults it's more applicable, so i think 19 would be more of an applicable age," said James McGuinness a Rochester resident.
Brandon Barr is the manager of Exscape Smoke Shop and Vapor Lounge. He said the age of 21 at least is giving you more life experience, and more of a chance to educate yourself about the thing you want to do.
He said if the law is passed, it likely won't impact his business directly.
"I think convenience stores and things like that probably will because they have more of a high customer volume," he added.
Barr said the topic of education should be at the center of this debate. He said he works to educate all of his customers about what they are buying.
"Some of these very high level nicotine juices if you were to put them in certain kinds of vapes it can put so much nicotine into you - you could get sick," he said.
The measure is backed by Governor Andrew Cuomo, and has broad support in the Democrat-controlled state Senate, where it has yet to be scheduled for a vote.
Cuomo released a statement after the Assembly passed the bill.
"The lifelong health effects and human misery caused by tobacco use cannot be understated and New York needs to do everything in its power to keep tobacco products out of the hands of our young people. That's why I made raising the age of tobacco sales to 21 one of the first proposals of my Justice Agenda and I applaud the Assembly and particularly Assembly Member Rosenthal for taking action on this very important issue today. I urge the Senate to follow suit and help make this a stronger and healthier New York for all."
Julie Hart of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network called the measure "common sense" and said it will reduce the number of young people who become addicted.
URMC Study reveals uptake of Vaping flavors among teenagers - Dr. Rahman Interviewed by Channel 8
Friday, March 1, 2019
Vaping flavors may be appealing for the eye and may taste better than smoking cigarettes. But a new study out of the University of Rochester found that vaping is starting to grow in popularity among teenagers.
According to Dr. Rahman, the study also shows an alarming uptake of vaping among youth which could lead to serious health problems later in life.
The study showed just last year vaping among 6th to 8th graders increased 48 percent and 9th to 12th graders in increased to 78 percent. Doctors said the lungs are still developing during those school years
"Be defective development, and after the development is complete, then it could lead to complications," said Dr. Rahman.
Nowadays e-cigarettes are shaped like a USB flash drive and are easy to conceal. Dr. Rahman says the liquids come in flavors that appeal to youth and can be easily bought online.
"Have to be alerted that these are toxic chemicals in here," said Rahman. "Smoking or vaping should completely be abolished."
There is currently a "flavor ban" legislation that could eliminate vaping flavors. For those who support flavors say thousands will return to combustible cigarettes, people would lose jobs and its mainly for adults.
"I switched from combustible cigarettes to flavors. they tasted better more appetizing to use and more enjoyable. Ultimately the studies are showing that no more than 5 percent of long term health effects that's what got me to switch from combustible cigarettes personally," said Ken Gregory, owner of Bad Drip Labs.
According to Gregory, his business isn't about getting teens to use their products. He added the industry is made for adults and teens shouldn't be vaping.
New Study Links Electronic Cigarettes and Wheezing in Adults
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Electronic cigarette use ("vaping") is associated with wheezing in adults, according to a new study published in the journal Tobacco Control. People who vaped were nearly twice as likely to experience wheezing compared to people who didn't regularly use tobacco products. Wheezing, which is caused by narrowed or abnormal airways, is often a precursor to other serious health conditions such as emphysema, gastro-esophageal reflux disease, heart failure, lung cancer and sleep apnea.
"The take-home message is that electronic cigarettes are not safe when it comes to lung health," says Ossip, a tobacco research expert and professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). "The changes we're seeing with vaping, both in laboratory experiments and studies of people who vape, are consistent with early signs of lung damage, which is very worrisome."
Researchers from URMC analyzed data from more than 28,000 adults in the U.S. who took part in the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study. After adjusting for age, gender, race/ethnicity, body mass index, secondhand smoke exposure and other factors, adult vapers were 1.7 times more likely to experience wheezing and related respiratory symptoms (such as difficulty breathing) compared to non-users.
Lead study author Dongmei Li, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Clinical and Translational Research at URMC, acknowledges that there are limitations to the study. PATH study data are self-reported, so it's possible that information collected from participants is subject to recall bias. The analysis cannot prove that vaping causes wheezing; it only identifies an association between the two. Finally, PATH data does not include information on some important factors that could influence the results, such as participants' diet and physical activity levels.
Despite these limitations, senior study author Irfan Rahman, Ph.D., professor of Environmental Medicine at URMC, says the research clearly identifies another health repercussion from vaping. This is particularly concerning given new data released from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention that shows a dramatic uptick in youth vaping. According to the report, in 2018 vaping increased by 78 percent among ninth to 12th graders and 48 percent in sixth to eighth graders.