Some Hong Kong teenagers using the illegal drug “space oil” were found to suffer from a possibly fatal condition in which levels of certain important hormones were drastically reduced, a study from a medical journal has found.

Doctors involved in the research also found that the impact on young people’s health could persist even if they stopped using the drug but were still exposed to it while hanging out with other users.

The findings were contained in medical research report on the narcotic’s health impact on three boys, aged 15 to 17, who were all diagnosed with adrenal insufficiency after being sent to public hospital paediatric departments in April and May last year.

The cases are the first three teenagers documented in Hong Kong.

One of the teenagers mentioned in the report continued to show signs of adrenal insufficiency despite having stopped abusing space oil for several months, with doctors saying it could be due to second-hand exposure.

“This is the first local paediatric report of adrenal insufficiency associated with etomidate misuse via e-cigarettes,” researchers said in the article, which was published in the Hong Kong Medical Journal last month.