By Katia Hetter, CNN
(CNN) — Social media trends are fueling a dangerous form of substance use among teenagers in the United States involving common household and commercial products, including inhaling nitrous oxide, or laughing gas.
More than 500,000 American adolescents reported inhalant use in the past year, according to an estimate based on findings in a new study published in the journal Preventive Medicine.
I spoke with CNN wellness expert Dr. Leana Wen to learn more about inhalants and why they appeal to so many teens. Wen is an emergency physician and adjunct associate professor at George Washington University. She previously was Baltimore’s health commissioner.
CNN: What are inhalants, and what substances are teenagers using?
Dr. Leana Wen: Inhalants are chemicals that produce mind-altering effects when people breathe in their fumes. The substances are often common products found in homes, schools, garages and stores. Teenagers may inhale gases, sprays or solvents to experience a brief high that can include euphoria and hallucinations.
These products include glue, shoe polish, paint thinner, aerosol sprays, gasoline and nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas. Nitrous oxide has legitimate medical and commercial uses. In medicine, it is used for sedation and pain control, including in dentistry and in operating rooms. Commercially, nitrous oxide is sold in cartridges that can be used in whipped cream dispensers. Increasingly, though, these products are being marketed and discussed online as recreational substances.
One reason inhalants are especially concerning is that they are inexpensive, widely available and often legal to purchase. Adolescents may wrongly assume that because these products are common household items, they are relatively safe. And parents and caregivers may not be aware that these items are being misused in this way.
CNN: What did this new study find about inhalant use among adolescents in the US? Are certain populations more at risk than others?
Wen: This study analyzed nationally representative survey data collected between 2021 and 2023 from over 33,700 adolescents. Researchers found that 2.2% of adolescents reported using inhalants in the past year. That may sound like a small percentage, but when applied nationally, it represents well over a half million teenagers. About 0.7% reported inhalant use in the past month, and 0.3% met criteria for inhalant use disorder, which means that their use had become severe enough to cause clinically significant impairment or distress.
One important finding was that younger adolescents ages 12 to 13 actually had higher rates of inhalant use compared with those ages 14 to 17.
I found this to be surprising when I first saw the results, but, as the authors explained, this finding aligns with prior research showing that inhalants are often among the first substances experimented with by young teenagers because of how commonplace they are.
Another important finding was that there were strong links between inhalant use and other risky behaviors. Adolescents who used tobacco, got into physical fights