A Yale Department of Psychiatry research team has been awarded a two-year American Heart Association (AHA) grant to develop interventions for youth e-cigarette use behaviors.
This grant is funded by ENACT: End Nicotine Addiction in Children and Teens, a nearly $17 million fast-track AHA research initiative to fight the growing epidemic of youth vaping in America.
Research teams at Yale, Boston University, and The Ohio State University will work over the next two years to identify the biological impacts of vaping on multiple organ systems (heart, brain, lungs, vascular, etc.), behavioral factors and specific social influences of health to reverse these trends, and develop interventions focused on youth and young adult vaping behaviors.
The Yale team is led by Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry, an expert in youth tobacco use behaviors who co-leads the Yale Tobacco Center of Regulatory Sciences. Yale scientists will develop and test several youth-based intervention programs that use technological innovations, and will conduct behavioral research to learn more about the effects of youth e-cigarette use and withdrawal.
“We are enthusiastic about this investment in the future of our children," Krishnan-Sarin said. "We hope that the work conducted by our group and others will have a significant impact on reducing youth e-cigarette use.”
“E-cigarettes are being marketed as a healthy option to traditional cigarettes, but no one knows if vaping is safe in the long run because e-cigarettes haven’t been around long enough to be studied deeply. Some diseases can take years and even decades to develop, so there is more work needed to fully understand all the dangers,” said American Heart Association volunteer president Robert A. Harrington, MD, FAHA, Arthur L. Bloomfield Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University.
We hope that the work conducted by our group and others will have a significant impact on reducing youth e-cigarette use.
Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine
Harrington said there’s a sense of urgency because, at a time when regular cigarette smoking has reached an all-time low, young people are turning to e-cigarettes at epidemic proportions with nearly one in four high school students reportedly vaping.
“That’s why these research projects will be high-impact and fast tracked, only two years in length and funded at levels among the highest individual grants awarded in the association’s history,” he said. “The initiative is designed to produce turnkey programs to support youth as well as provide clear evidence to inform policy decisions.”
Other members of the Yale research team include Grace Kong, PhD; Meghan Morean, PhD; Kathleen Garrison, PhD; Kathleen Carroll, PhD; Dana Cavallo, PhD; Krysten Bold, PhD; and Stephanie O’Malley, PhD.
This is the latest in a multipronged, ongoing commitment announced last fall by the American Heart Association — the world’s leading voluntary organization dedicated to a world of longer, healthier lives — to fight the growing epidemic of youth vaping. The American Heart Association has funded more than $4.6 billion in cardiovascular research since 1949.