Health and Healthcare

Do E-Cigarettes Cause A Surge In Heart Attack Risk?

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: March 10, 2019 7:49 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 10:17 am

There has been little exact proof about how much damage e-cigarettes can do to health. Also know as “e-cigs,” “vapes,” “e-hookahs,” “vape pens” and “electronic nicotine delivery systems,” the public knows little about their effect on the heart and cardiovascular system. An extensive scientific study shows how dangerous they are.

According to work done by doctors and published by the American College of Cardiologists, the battery operated products which run on liquids which contain nicotine, drive up heart attack risk by 56% compared to the risk for non-users. The risk for stroke moves higher by 30%. Other health risks are even more widespread than the potential for these two catastrophic events. The medical study shows, “Coronary artery disease and circulatory problems, including blood clots, were also much higher among those who vape—10 percent and 44 percent higher, respectively. This group was also twice as likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and other emotional problems.”  The study did not look at geographic data, while there is data on states with the most smokers.

E-cigarette use has become widespread recently. E-cigarettes were first offered for sale in 2007, Use is up by almost 14 times during the last ten years. The authors of the survey claim that there are currently 460 brands of e-cigarettes which come in amazing 7,700 plus flavors. The study was based on data from a total from “96,467 respondents from the National Health Interview Survey, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-fielded survey of Americans, from 2014, 2016 and 2017.” People who use e-cigarettes tend to be younger than non-users. Users had an average age of 33, which non-users had an average age of 40.4 years.

The CDC did a smaller study which discussed the dangers of e-cigarette among children, teens, and young adults?. These included increased odds that e-cigarette use will lead to later use of traditional cigarettes. The CDC data also pointed out that “Nicotine can harm the developing adolescent brain.”

The E-cigarette industry is so large that it has become attractive to outside investors, Tobacco giant Altria recently bought a 35% interest in the largest e-cigarette company, Juul, for which its paid $12.8 billion. Global e-cigarette sales are expected to reach almost $27 billion by 2023.

Summarizing the results of the American College of Cardiologists study, Mohinder Vindhyal, MD, assistant professor at the University of Kansas School of Medicine Wichita and the study’s lead author, said “I wouldn’t want any of my patients nor my family members to vape. When we dug deeper, we found that regardless of how frequently someone uses e-cigarettes, daily or just on some days, they are still more likely to have a heart attack or coronary artery disease.” Based on the data, is that any wonder?