People have been warned they could get a serious lung infection from vaping. A new study has warned vaping could be giving youngsters bronchitis, even if they already smoke. Bronchitis is inflammation of the airways in the lungs, often caused by smoking. Symptoms include chest pains while coughing, coughing up clear, white, yellow or green mucus and shortness of breath. American scientists are now calling for regulators to oversee the respiratory effects of vaping products, in light of one of the first studies to investigate vapers who also smoke cannabis or cigarettes. Vaping’s “cost” on lung health remained high regardless of whether users have asthma. Participants were 81% more likely to wheeze if they had puffed e-cigarettes in the past 30 days, versus those who had never used the nicotine products. Struggling for breath while hurrying on flat land or walking up a slight hill was considered wheezing. Bronchitic symptoms were twice as likely among those who used the synthetic devices in the past 30 days, defined as a daily cough for three months in a row, suffering bronchitis in the past 12 months, or experiencing congestion or phlegm without having a cold. If they used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days, they had a 78% higher chance of suffering shortness of breath.Vaping had a slightly harder toll on the lungs among those who didn’t smoke cannabis or cigarettes too. Study author Dr Alayna Tackett said: “This study contributes to emerging evidence from human and toxicological studies that e-cigarettes cause respiratory symptoms that warrant consideration in regulation of e-cigarettes. “It suggests that regulatory assessments of the population health cost underestimate the effects of late adolescent and young adult e-cigarette, cannabis and tobacco product use.” Until now research has focussed on people who exclusively puff e-cigarettes. Scientists tracked the respiratory health of study participants between 2014 and 2018. In 2014, 2,097 students with the average age of 17 completed a survey on their use of tobacco products and respiratory symptoms. Further information was collected from 1,609 of them in 2015, 1,502 in 2017 and 1,637 in 2018 – half were women. At each wave, participants were asked about how they used e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes over their lives and in the past 30 days. Questions on cannabis consumption were added during wave three. Dr Tackett, of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Centre, added: "Bronchitic symptoms were the most commonly reported at each questionnaire: 19.5%, 22.5%, 23.5% and 26% respectively. "Just under 12% had used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days in 2014 and 2015, but by 2018 this was up to 15.5%." The research team cautioned that the results, published in the journal Thorax, were limited by it being an observational study relying on self-reported questions.