Electronic cigarettes, as involved as cigarettes in cardiovascular diseases linked to smoking

Although scientific data is still lacking, the idea that e-cigarettes are less dangerous to health than cigarettes is widespread. This idea is based in particular on the fact that e-cigarette aerosols are composed of much fewer substances than smoke from burnt tobacco. With cardiovascular disease positioning itself as one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality linked to smoking, twelve researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine deemed it appropriate to look into the effects of e-cigarettes on the cardiovascular system. The study, published on April 29 in the Journal of the American Heart Association[1] is based on a sample of men and women between 21 and 45 years old. In this sample, 94 are non-smokers, 285 are cigarette smokers, 36 are e-cigarette smokers and 52 are mixed smokers (cigarettes and e-cigarettes)[2]. The results, in a sample that would certainly deserve to be larger, show that electronic cigarettes cause the same damage as cigarettes on the arteries and blood vessels of participants. Mixed smokers and electronic cigarette users did indeed show similarities with cigarette smokers in the part of the study dealing with an alteration of endothelial function and an increase in the rigidity of the arteries. As an explanation, the researchers put forward the presence of reactive aldehydes found both in inhaled cigarette smoke and in the aerosol produced by electronic cigarettes, which would have the effect of reducing the production of nitric oxide in endothelial cells, which protect the heart, as well as reacting more to oxygen, leading in particular to damage to DNA. For the researchers, these results suggest that electronic cigarettes would not be a healthier alternative to cigarettes, in that there is no scientific proof that they reduce the source of death from one of the leading pathologies linked to smoking. Moreover, the topic deserves special attention given that half of the American population is a user of electronic cigarettes, both former cigarette smokers (36.5%) and mixed smokers (22.1%). ©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1] https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/JAHA.119.014570 [2] https://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2020/04/30/new-study-finds-e-cigarette-may-cause-similar-damage-to-the-arteries-as-tobacco-cigarettes.html ©DNF - For a Zero Tobacco World |