Inside STAT: 'Do you vape?' With rise in lung illness, doctors start to ask new questions

AN EMPLOYEE OF GOTHAM VAPE IN QUEENS, N.Y., VAPES WHILE WATCHING A NEW YORK CITY HEARING ON E-CIGARETTES. (SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES)

For decades, doctors have asked patients about their smoking habits and drug use as a matter of course. Now the recent spate of vaping-related illnesses has led clinicians, particularly pulmonologists, to begin asking patients explicitly about their use of e-cigarettes. “In the past, I would ask people, ‘Do you smoke? Do you use marijuana?’ Now, I add to my questions, ‘Do you vape?’” Dr. Sean Callahan, a pulmonologist at University of Utah Health, tells STAT’s Megan Thielking. Health officials haven’t found a culprit behind the illnesses, but federal prosecutors in California just announced a criminal probe into e-cigarette maker Juul Labs. “Thankfully, most of them have quit by the time I see them, because they’re scared,” Callahan says. Read more here.