E-cigarette use increases risk of chronic lung disease, study claims
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}E-cigarettes have been found to significantly increase a user’s risk of developing chronic lung diseases in a study published by UC San Francisco researchers. The study, which is representative of the entire U.S adult population, is the first long-term study to link e-cigarettes to an increased risk of developing chronic pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, asthma, and bronchitis.
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“What we found is that for e-cigarette users, the odds of developing lung disease increased by about a third, even after controlling for their tobacco use and their clinical and demographic information,” senior author Stanton Glantz, PhD, a UCSF professor of medicine and director of the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, said in a news release.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The researchers, who published their findings in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine on Monday, tracked e-cigarette and tobacco habits as well as new lung disease diagnoses in over 32,000 U.S. adults from 2013 to 2016. They found that those who used e-cigarettes and also smoked tobacco were at an even higher risk of receiving a chronic lung disease diagnosis than those who exclusive smoked tobacco or used an e-cigarette.
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“Dual users – the most common pattern among people who use e-cigarettes – get the combined risk of e-cigarettes and conventional cigarettes, so they’re actually worse off than tobacco smokers,” Glantz said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The researchers also noted that the findings did not take into account the EVALI cases currently being investigated by the FDA and CDC, and was more so to evaluate if e-cigarettes should be marketed as a safe smoking cessation aid.
“Switching from conventional cigarettes to e-cigarettes exclusively could reduce the risk of lung disease, but very few people do it,” Glantz said in the news release. “For most smokers, they simply add e-cigarettes and become dual users, significantly increasing their risk of developing lung disease above just smoking.”
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Glantz and his team determined that their research adds to the argument that e-cigarettes are “making the tobacco epidemic worse.”