E-cigarette vaping has surged in popularity, often touted as a safer alternative to traditional smoking. However, mounting evidence suggests its potential link to cardiovascular issues. A recent study co-led by UC Irvine researchers found that vaping can disrupt the natural relationship between blood flow and pressure, raising concerns about its long-term health implications.

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. ()

Vaping and Air Pollution: Unraveling the Mechanisms of Cardiovascular Risk

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 wellbeing.

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.

All exposure experiments were conducted at UC Irvine’s APHEL, a state-of-the-art 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 & 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,” shares Kleinman, co-author of the study. “APHEL hopes to further unravel the connection between inhaled environmental toxins and heart disease, contributing to safer, healthier communities.”

Additional authors include corresponding author Robert A. Kloner, MD, PhD, Rashid Alavi, PhD, Wangde Dai, MD, and Niema M. Pahlevan, PhD, all from the University of Southern California and the Huntington Medical Research Institutes in Pasadena; Sohrab P. Mazandarani, MA, from the University of Southern California; and Rebecca J. Arechavala, PhD, and David A. Herman, PhD, from UC Irvine.

Reference:

1. Adverse Cardiovascular Effects of Nicotine Delivered by Chronic Electronic Cigarettes or Standard Cigarettes Captured by Cardiovascular Intrinsic Frequencies – (https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.124.035462)

Source-Newswise