People who use vape cigarettes are at higher risk of developing respiratory illnesses. However, those who smoke both tobacco and e-cigarettes are at even greater risk. Researchers found that users of vaping, which vaporizes liquid, were 1.3 times more likely to develop respiratory illnesses than people who had never used itconsumed another tobacco producthad. However, the study also suggests that e-cigarettes are safer than combustible tobacco products, at least when it comes to lung disease.
Are vape cigarettes dangerous?
People who use e-cigarettes are at increased risk of asthma, bronchitis, emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to a long-term study.
“We found that the likelihood of developing lung disease increasedget sick, for e-cigarette usersincreases by about a third, even after controlling for their tobacco use and their clinical and demographic information.” Study author Stanton Glantz said this in a statement. He is a professor of medicine in California, San Francisco and director of the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.
People who vaped had a lower risk than cigarette smokers. But for people who smoked both combustible tobacco and vape generators, the risk of respiratory illnesses was even higher. The study is based on data from more than 32,000 adults in the United States. At the start of the study in 2013, none reported lung disease.
However, after 3 years, researchers found that vape cigarette users were slightly more likely to suffer from breathing problems. In people who smoked cigarettes or other combustible tobacco, the risk increased by 2.6. Those who used both types of nicotine and tobacco products had a 3.3 times higher risk.
Vapor or cigarette smoke?
For the purposes of the study, Glantz and his co-author summarized the four respiratory diseases. Because of the way the study was designed, it only shows that there is a link between vaping and respiratory illnesses, not a direct cause and effect.
But Dr. Mangala Narasimhan, regional director of critical care medicine at Northwell Health in New Hyde Park, New York, says the study provides more insight into the long-term risks of e-cigarettes.
Still, “It would be nice to have a long study doing objective pulmonary function testing and CAT scan testing. So we could objectivelyDetermine damage to the lungs, rather than just asking people who have ever been diagnosed with lung disease whether this is the case. “
Narasimhan said given the new study - and that many people are becoming dual users - doctors may need to go back to recommending other smoking cessation products, such as nicotine patches, lozenges and medication.
“E-cigarettes had the advantage of making people feel like they were smoking. So for some people it was easier to smoke cigarettes than to vape,” Narasimhan said. “But I think we need to go back to the traditional things we used.”
The new study was published on December 16thAmerican Journal of Preventive Medicine published.
