Effects of e‐cigarettes and vaping devices on cardiac and pulmonary physiology

Abstract

Short term • Increased flow resistance • Increased airway reactivity Long term • Emphysema • Higher airway resistance • Airway onstruction • Airway inflammation Short term • Increased heart rate • Increased blood pressure • Increased aortic stiffness Long term • Increased atherosclerosis • Increased aortic stiffness Abstract E-cigarette aerosols are exceedingly different from conventional tobacco smoke, containing dozens of chemicals not found in cigarette smoke. It is highly likely that chronic use of e-cigarettes will induce pathological changes in both the heart and lungs. Here we review human and animal studies published to date and summarize the cardiopulmonary physiological changes

Effect of chronic JUUL aerosol inhalation on inflammatory states of the brain, lung, heart and colon in mice

“…Lungs represent the main site for aerosol deposition during inhalant use. Several studies have shown the effects of e-cigarettes on lung physiology (7, 29). To determine the effect of chronic JUUL aerosol inhalation on lung physiology, mechanic scans of airways resistance and lung elastance were carried out and were found to be similar across JUUL Mint, JUUL Mango and Air control groups at 1 and 3 months of exposure ( Supplemental Figure 2 ).…”

“…Conventional tobacco as well as some e-cigarette aerosol exposures, have been found to cause increased cellularity in the airways (2, 7, 8), and cigarette smoking leads to recruitment of neutrophils to the airways in particular (2). Total leukocyte and neutrophil counts in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) of mice exposed to JUUL aerosols for 1 and 3 months were not different than those in Air controls, indicating that inflammatory cell recruitment to the airways was unaffected ( Supplemental Figure 3 ).…”

“…Chronic exposure to cigarette smoke leads to cardiovascular changes, mediated through altered autonomic tone, but little is known about the chronic cardiovascular effects of e-cigarettes, especially with pod devices (7). Thus, we exposed mice to JUUL aerosols and carried out assessments of cardiovascular function, including blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), and heart rate variability (HRV).…”

“…While the data on health effects of conventional tobacco are extensive, the data on e-cigarettes and vaping devices are less established due to their recent entry to the market (7, 8). In particular, research in this area is impeded by the rapid evolution of vaping devices.…”

“…Because of the short time e-cigarettes and vaping devices have been on the market, very little is known about the long-term chronic effects of vaping. Acute and subacute studies in human subjects have demonstrated changes in lung and cardiac function, with increased airway reactivity and lung inflammation, and increased heart rate and blood pressure in response to vaping (7). Previous studies of chronic effects of vaping are limited to e-cigarette aerosol inhalation models in animals but have demonstrated more profound effects, including renal, cardiac and liver fibrosis (10), emphysema (11), lung cancer (12), increased lung injury in the setting of influenza infection (13), increased arterial stiffness and atherosclerosis, and activation of addiction neurocircuits in the brain (14, 15).…”