Electronic cigarettes, commonly known as e-cigarettes, deliver nicotine without the tar and smoke of traditional tobacco cigarettes.But doctors say they still carry risks.Researchers know that the nicotine contained in cigarettes constricts blood vessels.However, they don’t yet know the cumulative damage e-cigarettes cause to your heart, lungs and blood vessels.Many experts urge everyone — heart patients in particular — to avoid smoking any product, including e-cigarettes.E-cigarettes produce an inhaled vapor from a flavored liquid which contains nicotine, simulating the effect of smoking.Preliminary studies suggest nicotine might do direct damage to heart cells, so heart patients should avoid vaping or smoking traditional tobacco products completely.[Tweet “#E-cigarettes are #tobacco-free, but they still carry the dangers of #nicotine, doctor says”] Researchers in Greece measured heart function and blood pressure in 22 young adults before and after using e-cigarettes.Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos of the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center in Greece presented a scientific paper on the study at the European Society of Cardiology in 2012.

He says the subjects showed none of the acute cardiovascular problems associated with smoking traditional cigarettes (including impact on heart pumping function and increased systolic blood pressure).Researchers saw a significant increase in subjects’ blood pressure after they smoked a traditional tobacco cigarette.After subjects smoked an e-cigarette, they saw only a slight increase in diastolic blood pressure.“This is an indication that although nicotine was present in the liquid used, it is absorbed at a lower rate compared to regular cigarette smoking,” Dr. Farsalinos says.He recommends that researchers continue to study the effects of e-cigarettes.However, he says, “Considering the extreme hazards associated with cigarette smoking, currently available data suggest that electronic cigarettes are far less harmful and substituting tobacco with electronic cigarettes may be beneficial to health.” The Tobacco Advisory Group of the Royal College of Physicians published an advisory in October 2007.

In the lengthy document, experts urge caution in the use of substances containing nicotine (and tobacco).However, the report says that prohibition and over-regulation might also lead to misuse of such substances.e cigarette fnacStudies done at Brown University go to the heart of the matter — nicotine’s effect on cardiac tissue.e cigarette eu regulationExperts know that smoking cigarettes increases your risk for heart disease and that nicotine is the likely culprit.e cigarette cyprusVascular tissue exposed to nicotine shows damage.Nicotine literally bores holes through smooth muscle walls and leaves debris in its wake.The preliminary research shows how damage from nicotine can lead to atherosclerosis, or a buildup of plaque in the arteries.

Whenever there is damage to tissue, inflammation and plaque buildup can follow.Cardiologist Maan Fares, MD, did not participate in the studies, but is very familiar with the topic of smoking cessation and e-cigarettes.“I am often faced with general questions regarding the potential advantage of switching from smoking to e-cigarettes and vaping,” he says.“I mention the risks of nicotine including the possible mechanisms such as direct vasoconstriction effects on the coronary arteries and direct harm to the layer that lines the inside of the arteries,” he says.“We must also recognize the risk for hypertension, and nicotine’s association with elevated glucose levels, particularly in patients with diabetes or pre-diabetes.” Even though you might avoid some of the cancer risks associated with tobacco use when you switch from traditional cigarettes to e-cigarettes, you don’t eliminate your risk for heart disease.The American Heart Association (AHA) recently recommended that the government implement stricter E-cigarette regulation until further studies can verify the long-term effects of e-cigarettes on the heart.

Because e-cigarettes are a tobacco-free nicotine delivery system, you still receive a dose of nicotine directly into your lungs and blood stream, every time you vape.If you have heart problems you are particularly vulnerable to the effects of nicotine, so you should avoid e-cigarettes.There are helpful smoking cessation programs available which will help you to stop harmful tobacco and nicotine use, once and for all.Skip to Main Content Area First evidence that e-cig use increases heart attacks, independent of the effect of smoking cigarettes Every time I have posted a comment on a new study showing that e-cigarettes adversely affect blood vessels and blood in ways that increase risk of a heart attack, a friend and colleague who remains part of the (shrinking) collection of e-cigarette enthusiasts emails me and with he comment that, “if they are so bad where’s the evidence that e-cigarettes increase the risk of a heart attack?” The first evidence just appeared.Using the National Health Interview Survey (NIHS), a large national survey done in the US, Nardos Temesgen and colleagues at George Washington University, found that the odds of a heart attack  increased by 42% among people who used e-cigarettes.

This increase in risk was on top of the increases in risk due to any smoking that the e-cigarette users were doing.This  is a particularly important finding because most e-cigarette users are dual users who keep on smoking at the same time that they use e-cigarettes.What this means is that dual use of e-cigarettes with cigarettes is substantially more dangerous than smoking alone.The assumption of most people – including me – has been that e-cigarette use would not add much risk to cigarettes.That is not the case.E-cigarette use increases the risk of a heart attack about as much as having diabetes.The work also controlled for a wide range of confounding variables.In addition, the risks associated with other factors (like smoking, diabetes, and high blood pressure) in this study were similar to those established in earlier work.This fact strengthens the conclusions that e-cigarettes represent an independent cause of heart attacks.The abstract of the study, “A cross sectional study reveals an association between electronic cigarette use and myocardial infarction,” is available here.

Here is the abstract: Background: E-cigarettes (E-cigarettes) have grown in popularity as an alternative to traditional cigarettes especially among consumers who want to reduce the risk of morbidity and mortality associated with smoking.Nonetheless, a recent study showed both E-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes cause an increase in oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction, however this effect is less pronounced with E-cigarettes.Currently, there is a limited study that shows the impact of E-cigarette in the cardiovascular system.Therefore, data from the 2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) was used to evaluate the effect of E-cigarettes on the cardiovascular system, specifically the effect on myocardial infarction (MI).Methods: Analysis of the 2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) database was performed to examine the effect of E-cigarettes on MI.Initially, subjects were assigned to one of two groups: those with a history of MI and those without a history of MI.

The t-test and chi-square test were subsequently applied to compare the different demographics and health characteristics between these two groups.A logistic regression model was then used to measure the association between E-cigarettes and history of MI.Data was adjusted for multiple risk factors for MI including age, gender, race, body mass index, income, the status of smoking cigarettes, and history of hypertension, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia.Results: A total of 35,156 subjects were included in the final logistic model.This model showed that increasing age (OR, 1.04; p <0.001), history of hypertension (OR, 2.72; p < 0.001), high cholesterol (OR, 2.19; p< 0.001), and diabetes (OR, 1.68; p< 0.001) are associated with increased odds of myocardial infarction.With respect to smoking, increased frequency of smoking was associated with increasingly higher odds of MI when compared to patients who had never smoked: every day smokers (OR, 2.75 p<0.001), some day smokers (OR, 2.39; p<0.001), and former smokers (OR 1.80; p<0.001.)