Gays Smoke More E-Cigarettes Than Straights

metroweekly.com:

report issued by the U.S. Surgeon General’s office finds that LGBTQ Americans are more than twice as likely as their straight counterparts to have used electronic cigarettes.According to the report, based on data from 2019 to 2021, nearly half of bisexual adults have tried some form of e-cigarette, including e-cigars, e-pipes, e-hookahs, vaping pens, and hookah pens, compared with 31.8% percent of gay men and 26.7% of lesbians.Statistics for transgender Americans’ tobacco use were not widely available for analysis in all areas of the report.The report found similar disparities among young adults and high school students based on their sexual orientation.For example, 42% of young adults who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual reported trying e-cigarettes, compared with 30.3% of their straight counterparts.

Similarly, among high school students, 56% of LGB individuals reported vaping, compared to 49.8% of straight counterparts.“Tobacco use is a singular health threat to LGBTQAI+ communities,” Kristy Marynak, a senior science adviser at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a co-editor on the report, told NBC News. “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.”There is not a lot of research looking at the long-term health outcomes for people who use e-cigarettes, because they’re relatively new products.