A Nigerian researcher at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF), Professor Andrew Agbaje, has secured a €1.5 million European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant to investigate the long-term health effects of vaping and electronic cigarette use among young people.

The project comes amid concerns over increasing nicotine use among young people and limited long-term evidence on the health consequences of vaping.

Agbaje, an alumnus of the University of Benin, Nigeria, will lead the five-year VAPE-HABIT project, which will examine the effects of vaping on the heart, brain, kidneys, liver, obesity and metabolic health of youths.

The ERC Starting Grant is among the most prestigious and competitive individual research grants in Europe, with scientific excellence serving as the sole criterion for selection.

Under the VAPE-HABIT project, Agbaje and his team will analyse data from the Children of the 90s cohort, also known as the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom.

According to Agbaje, the dataset is unique because the health variables required for the research were collected prospectively from several thousand young participants, providing an opportunity to examine the effects of vaping over time.

He said the study would seek to determine the causal effects of vaping and e-cigarette use on cardiovascular, liver, kidney and neurological disorders. It will also examine the temporal and bi-directional relationship between vaping and risks associated with obesity, metabolic syndrome and dysglycaemia.

Beyond identifying health outcomes, the researchers will investigate biological mechanisms that may explain vaping-related organ damage through proteomic analysis, with the aim of identifying potential therapeutic targets.

Agbaje said the project would also provide longitudinal evidence on the possible effects of vaping during pregnancy on offspring growth, stunting and blood pressure.

The researchers will further model interventions that could prevent or reverse the health consequences of vaping, including quasi-experiments in situations where randomised controlled trials would not be ethically feasible.

The professor said that youths who vape are four times more likely to initiate tobacco smoking, underscoring the need for further research into the health implications of the practice.

Agbaje said findings from the project could help strengthen public health recommendations, vaping prevention strategies and policies, including efforts to protect young people from the potential harms associated with vaping.

His previous research has also focused on the long-term effects of tobacco use among young people. According to Agbaje, his team found that smoking during the teenage years may damage the heart up to 20 years before the emergence of the first heart symptoms.

Reacting to the latest grant, Agbaje described it as recognition of the hard work and resilience that had gone into his research over the past seven years.

He said the funding would enable him to build a world-class team of researchers and create an opportunity to advance scientific knowledge while contributing to efforts to protect young people’s health.