Drug‐related deaths associated with vaping product use in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Background and Aims Between March 2019 and February 2020 there was an outbreak of acute lung injury associated with vaping tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), contaminated with vitamin E acetate, in the United States. To date, there has been no comprehensive study of drug‐related deaths associated with vaping products in the United Kingdom. We aimed to identify any trends in drug‐related deaths associated with vaping product use in the United Kingdom. Methods We retrospectively identified any deaths associated with the use of vaping products reported to the UK National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths (NPSAD). This contains voluntarily reported information from UK Coroners on more than 42 000 deaths related to psychoactive drugs, other than nicotine or caffeine, which occurred between 1997 and 2020. Results Two drug‐related deaths were reported which were associated with vaping products, one person having died in 2017 and one in 2018. Both decedents were men currently serving prison sentences in England and were aged 26 and 42 years at the time of death. Both deaths were associated with recent use of Synthetic Cannabinoid Receptor Agonists (SCRAs), with no other substances found to be implicated in death. No details regarding the type of vaping products were available. Conclusions In a UK sample (1997 to 2020) of 42 000 deaths related to psychoactive drugs other than nicotine or caffeine, only two deaths were associated with vaping products, and those involved use of synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists.

Exposure to Negative News Stories About Vaping, and Harm Perceptions of Vaping, Among Youth in England, Canada, and the United States Before and After the Outbreak of E-cigarette or Vaping-Associated Lung Injury (‘EVALI’)

“…The United Kingdom reported two possible cases, which were both fatal and associated with the recent use of vaping synthetic cannabis. 6 , 7 …”

Pattern and prevalence of vaping nicotine and non-nicotine drugs in the United Kingdom: a cross-sectional study

“…Concerningly 45 individuals reported vaping synthetic cannabinoids, which have been linked to two vaping product-related deaths in the UK. 7 Open access While the study is, to our knowledge, the largest cross-sectional sample in the UK published literature of people ever vaping a range of non-nicotine drugs there are several limitations. The study relied on self-report to identify drug use and may therefore be subject to social desirability bias and was conducted using an online convenience sample.…”

“…Concerningly 45 individuals reported vaping synthetic cannabinoids, which have been linked to two vaping product-related deaths in the UK. 7 …”

“…This is particularly important given the harms associated with drug use are disproportionately higher within these populations. 7 The small numbers of people vaping specific substances prevent robust statistical analyses due to small cell sizes and as such statistical testing should be interpreted with caution. Future studies with larger sample sizes or meta-analyses may be able to overcome these limitations.…”

“…5 While in some circumstances vaping nonnicotine drugs may present fewer harms when compared with other routes of administration (eg, smoking), in some cases vaping could potentially pose unique harms due to the speed of onset of drug effects, alongside the concomitant use of any adulterants. [5][6][7] Most notably the 2019 US outbreak of acute lung injury associated with vaping illicit cannabinoid products contaminated with vitamin E acetate highlights the potential for associated harms. 8 Monitoring of nicotine vaping in the United Kingdom is well documented, 9 while data on vaping of non-nicotine drugs are sparse.…”