Health

Could text messages lower e-cigarette use in teens?

By Mallika Marshall, MD

August 8, 2024 / 6:16 PM EDT / CBS Boston

A text message support program may help teens with their vaping addictions, study finds

BOSTON - A text messaging program could help teens walk away from e-cigarettes.

E-cigarettes, which are highly addictive, are the most common tobacco products used by teens. In fact, up to 10% of high schoolers use them. But a new study published in JAMA found that frequent text messages could help them kick the habit.

Looking at more than 1,500 teenage e-cigarette users, the researchers found that those who received daily automated, interactive text messages for vaping cessation that delivered cognitive and behavioral coping skills training and social support were more likely to report quitting after seven months.

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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