Dr. Tista Ghosh, Colorado’s interim chief medical officer, is pushing forward with efforts to get more health care providers to screen the nation’s youth for vaping.
Dr. Ghosh recently published a letter in the New England Journal of Medicine, noting that Colorado has the “dubious distinction of leading the nation in the use of nicotine-containing vapor products (electronic cigarettes), or vaping, among young people under the age of 18 years.”
One-in-four Colorado high school students reported vaping, according to the most recent national Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a rate twice the national average. Colorado is the top state of the 37 surveyed across the nation.
In the article Ghosh urges health care providers to screen youth for vaping, and encourages physicians to help educate their youth patients about vaping’s dangers including associations with substance abuse and violent behavior.
The Colorado QuitLine offers free coaching for children as young as 12 who are trying to quit any nicotine products.