This is certainly an attention grabbing headline, but wouldn't 'years off life expectancy' be a better metric to report to help people make life decisions? I am sure there are studies out their collecting that data. How am I to make a moderation decision based purely on a count a people with a specific cause of death?
The vape lung disease is so concerning because it killed people in a few days or a week. Where as cigarettes would reliably shave X years off someone's life. I can easily make a decision to never use a vape at all or never from underground source.