E-cigarettes (e-cigs) may be just as bad for blood vessels as regular cigarettes, suggest findings from a study in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
The researchers tested vascular function in adults ages 21 to 45 with normal cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure levels and no known cardiovascular disease. Compared to nonsmokers, e-cig users had increases in arterial stiffening and damage to endothelial cells (the cells that line blood vessel walls) similar to those seen in people who smoked combustible cigarettes. Such arterial changes are considered “preclinical” measures of cardiovascular injury.
The findings are important because e-cigs have been proposed as a less harmful alternative to regular cigarettes. The study was small, however, with only 36 people using e-cigs exclusively (out of 467 total participants; another 52 used both ecigs and regular cigarettes). Larger and longer studies are needed to confirm these vascular effects.
