Uncovering the biological links between e-cigarette use and mental health

E-cigarette use has become increasingly common, especially among young people, but its impact on mental health is not fully understood.

Early research suggests that e-cigarette use may be linked to symptoms of depression and anxiety. Scientists believe that certain changes in the body, known as biological markers, may help explain this link. Examples of biological markers include levels of inflammation and oxidative stress.

These markers could show how using e-cigarettes affects mental health. However, there is still little research looking at these biological changes over time in the same individuals. It’s also important to identify how mental health develops over time, but few studies have tracked their trajectories related to e-cigarette use. This will help answer a key question: does vaping e-cigarettes change mental health?

Project aims

We will:

• Investigate whether biological markers help to explain the relationship between e-cigarette use and mental health problems
• Compare the underlying biological mechanisms linking mental health with e-cigarette use versus cigarette use and smoking cessation
• Identify how different vaping statuses relate to individual differences in changes in depression and anxiety symptoms over time among Children of the 90s

What we hope to achieve

We hope to provide a clearer understanding of how e-cigarette use may affect mental health. We want to identify early biological signals that could show who might be most at risk.

This knowledge could help researchers and healthcare professionals develop better ways to prevent mental health problems linked to e-cigarette use.

In the longer term, the findings will also support research into modifiable risk factors and guide interventions that target the underlying biological processes. This will contribute to the wider goal of improving precision mental health research by connecting lifestyle behaviours with biological and psychological outcomes over time.