An Ohio State University professor and the American Heart Association (AHA) are calling on lawmakers to take action to reduce the use of e-cigarettes among young people and reduce cardiovascular risk.
Loren Wold, professor and associate dean for research operations and compliance at the Ohio State University College of Medicine, says evidence shows that use of e-cigarettes could potentially impact the lifetime cardiovascular and respiratory health of users, according to a press release.
“Inhaling any foreign substance can have effects on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems,” Wold said. “Furthermore, a person’s lung development continues into the early 20s, so adolescents who vape are at risk for stunting or altering their lung development and may not reach full lung function.”
E-cigarettes have grown in popularity among adolescents since their introduction in the early 2000s and the journal Circulation Research finds that people who began vaping as adolescents are more likely to use tobacco products later in life.
The health impacts of e-cigarettes is still not fully known, but these products do contain vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol which are known to break down into known carcinogens.
Studies have shown that adolescents that use e-cigarettes are at higher risk for respiratory issues, including wheezing and coughing, asthma and lung infections and other health problems including arterial stiffness, impaired blood vessel function and increased blood pressure and heart rate.
“While adolescents who use e-cigarettes may not feel that vaping is affecting them at the moment, it is increasingly clear that the chemicals contained within e-cigarette aerosols are harming cardiovascular cells, leading to changes that promote the development of heart disease over time,” Wold said. “It usually takes decades before people who smoke combustible cigarettes develop cardiovascular disease and/or chronic-obstructive pulmonary disease, and the same may be true of vaping. A reduction in adolescent vaping rates likely may help to improve long-term cardiopulmonary outcomes among this group.”
The AHA is calling on lawmakers to consider policies that would establish better measures to reduce youth access to e-cigarettes, improve youth education on the potential health risks of e-cigarette us, develop educational programs for medical students, ensure hospital-based vaping-cessation programs, regulate the marketing of e-cigarette products on platforms that are popular with adolescents, and include e-cigarettes into smoke-free air policies.
Visitors can find more information about the increased health risks associated with e-cigarettes at the AHA's website.
