01 Feb E-Cigs Linked To Adverse Cardiac Effects
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Holly Middlekauff
Holly R. Middlekauff, MD
Professor
UCLA Division of Cardiology
David Geffen School of Medicine
UCLA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: E-cigarettes are the fastest rising tobacco product in the US today, but almost nothing is known about their cardiovascular effects. Rather than wait decades for epidemiological data in e-cigarette users to become available, we reasoned that investigations into the known mechanisms by which tobacco cigarettes increase heart disease would provide insights into the health risks of e-cigarettes.
We focused on 2 critical mechanisms:
1) cardiac adrenaline activity, and
2) oxidative stress, measured in chronic e-cigarrete users compared to matched, healthy controls.
The major findings were that, compared to healthy controls, e-cig users had increased cardiac adrenaline activity (measured by a technique called “heart rate variability”). Furthermore, compared to healthy controls, the e-cig users had increased susceptibility to oxidative stress.
MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Response: E-cigarettes have real, measurable, adverse physiologic effects. We should get the word out that to our patients, and to the public, that: “If you don’t already smoke tobacco cigarettes, don’t start using e-cigarettes – they are not harmless!”
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Response: Important remaining questions for future research are:
1) Are e-cigarettes are as harmful as tobacco cigarettes?
2) What component(s) of the e-cigarette aerosol is responsible for these adverse effects – the inhaled nicotine? humectants? the flavorings?
We don’t yet have the answers to these questions, but we are working on them.
MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Response: No disclosures. Thank you very much for your interest in our work
MedicalResearch.com: Thank you for your contribution to the MedicalResearch.com community.
Citation:
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Last Updated on February 1, 2017 by Marie Benz MD FAAD