A new study reveals that vaping disrupts normal heart function and blood flow, contributing to cardiovascular risks and raising concerns about e-cigarettes’ impact on heart health.
Summary: A new study led by researchers from UC Irvine’s Air Pollution Health Effects Laboratory shows that vaping can disrupt the normal function of blood flow and pressure in the heart, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. The research highlights that vaping, particularly with nicotine, poses significant health risks, contributing to heart disease, one of the leading causes of death worldwide. The findings call for stronger public health policies to reduce nicotine exposure and protect heart health.
Key Takeaways:
- Vaping Disrupts Heart Function: The study found that vaping, especially with nicotine, interferes with the normal coupling of blood flow and pressure, increasing the risk of heart disease.
- Cardiovascular Risk: The research adds to growing evidence that vaping poses serious risks to cardiovascular health, contributing to conditions like heart attacks and hypertension.
- Call for Public Health Action: The researchers advocate for stronger public health policies aimed at reducing exposure to nicotine and other synthetic inhaled substances to protect heart health.
Electronic cigarette or e-cigarette “vaping” has gained popularity, both among smokers as a purported aid to quit smoking tobacco-related products altogether, but also especially among adolescents and teenagers. Vaping is considered “safer” than smoking, but growing evidence points to its significant role in cardiovascular problems.
A new study, co-led by researchers from the Air Pollution Health Effects Laboratory (APHEL) at the UC Irvine Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health, reveals that vaping can interfere with the normal coupling between blood flow and pressure as blood flows from the heart to the arteries.
The findings, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, are an important contribution to understanding that vaping is another environmental factor that can contribute to heart disease, one of the leading causes of death worldwide, according to researchers.
Ambient Particles Previously Linked to Cardiovascular Risks
Past research has shown that exposure to inhaled ambient particles, especially PM2.5, and those produced from vaping have been linked to increased risks of heart attacks, arrhythmias, and hypertension.
However, our understanding of the specific mechanisms by which pollutants affect cardiovascular function remains incomplete, thus impeding progress on developing interventions to protect human health and well-being.
To address this gap, environmental health researchers at UC Irvine have collaborated with peers at the University of Southern California and the Huntington Medical Research Institutes in Pasadena to conduct this study.
Effects of E-Cigarette Vapor
All exposure experiments were conducted at UC Irvine’s APHEL, a research lab known for its advanced capabilities in simulating realistic environmental exposures. Under the leadership of APHEL’s co-director, Michael Kleinman, PhD, adjunct professor of environmental and occupational health at Wen Public Health, the research team used a controlled environment system to expose animal models to electronic cigarette vapor with and without nicotine.
Using a novel, non-invasive method, which could, in the future, be obtained using a cell phone, the team was able to show that vaping e-cigarettes with nicotine significantly disrupted normal heart function. These results provide compelling evidence that using e-cigarettes, and possibly other nicotine inhalation delivery systems could pose a risk to heart health.
“Our results support the growing call for public health policies aimed at reducing exposure to inhaled nicotine and to new synthetic nicotine products not yet on the market,” says Kleinman, co-author of the study, in a release. “APHEL hopes to further unravel the connection between inhaled environmental toxins and heart disease, contributing to safer, healthier communities.”
ID 160584706 © Dedmityay | Dreamstime.com