Aerosol from vaping devices such as e-cigarettes may do serious harm to person's blood vessels, according to new findings presented at the American Heart Association’s Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Scientific Sessions 2021. The impact, it seems, is comparable to the effect of cigarette smoke.
“When you inhale a suspension of particles or a mist, whether it is from tobacco or marijuana, whether it’s smoke or aerosol, it all has the same effect,” senior author Matthew L. Springer, PhD, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, said in a press release. “Our research reinforces the previous findings that vaping is not without harm, and it underscores the importance of counseling patients about the risks of vaping because it does affect cardiovascular function.”
Springer et al. investigated whether aerosols from various vaping devices diminished blood vessel function. They compared 11 groups of rats with eight rats in each group exposing them to nine vaping products versus the control group of combustible cigarettes and clear air.
The team found that a newer vaping device that heats tobacco instead of burning it delivered 7.3 times more nicotine to the blood than older e-cigarettes and 8.7 times more nicotine than another modern device that utilize ultrasonic vibrations to produce e-cigarette aerosol.
Among the findings:
- After only one five-minute session of exposure, endothelial function in the rats was acutely impaired by aerosols from all vaping products. Vessel dilation fell between 40% and 67% for all groups except the rats exposed to clean air.
- This blood vessel impairment in vaping products was comparable to the impairment caused by traditional cigarettes.
Reduced endothelium function can lead to atherosclerosis, a risk factor for stroke and myocardial infarction (MI), the researchers emphasized.
“The approach we used to study vascular function in the rats closely resembles what happens in humans,” Springer added. “This is a rodent-equivalent of a common clinical measure in humans in the brachial artery, the major blood vessel of the (upper) arm. It is known that e-cigarettes can impair vascular function in humans. If any mist or aerosol that rats inhale has this adverse effect, it will likely happen in humans, too.”
Read more Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Scientific Sessions 2021, a virtual conference that ends Aug. 25, here.