February 2017 E-Cigarettes FROM PAGE 5


less severe in the e-cigarette compared


to age-matched users tobacco


cigarette smokers," she added. "All we can conclude is that


e-cigarette use has real physiologic, adverse effects," she said. "They are not harmless."


available in the United States in 2006.


then, their popularity


Electronic cigarettes first became Since


has skyrocketed. The U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that more than 250 brands of e-cigarettes are now sold, the researchers said.


All the e-cigarette users in the study were healthy and between the ages of 21 and 45. The e-cigarette users had been vaping almost daily for a minimum of one year. None of the participants smoked tobacco cigarettes.


All the e-cigarette users and


nonusers had blood tests and heart rate variability testing, to measure various aspects of heart behavior.


The result: E-cigarette users had a higher risk for oxidative stress,


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in which so-called "free radical" molecules


produced through


breathing start to reach potentially harmful levels, the researchers said.


to have an increased risk for a rise in "cardiac


E-cigarettes were also found sympathetic


activity,"


stemming from a boost in the level of hormones produced by the adrenal gland. Ultimately, this can give rise to an increased heart rate and higher blood pressure, the researchers said.


The findings were published online Feb. 1 in the journal JAMA Cardiology.


Middlekauff said she and her


colleagues are now comparing the heart effects of chronic e-cigarette use to chronic tobacco cigarette use.


may increase the trouble, she said.


It's still unclear why e-cigarettes risk for heart


nicotine is the culprit," Middlekauff said. "Nicotine biologically


active


"I would speculate that inhaled is the most


component in


e-cigarette aerosol, and is an airway irritant. Nicotine increases adrenaline levels, and may activate a number of adverse systems that are harmful in the long run."


Aruni Bhatnagar is a professor


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of medicine with


e-cigarettes chemicals "they


the


He said than


The Hampton Roads Messenger 15 University that, of


Louisville's division of cardiovascular medicine.


contain


expose users to fewer traditional some


"So, I would say that what is being


reported here is important, but not really startling," said Bhatnagar, who cowrote an editorial accompanying the study and serves as director of the American Heart Association's Tobacco Center.


Gregory Conley, president of


although cigarettes,


residual


components, particularly nicotine, that may present a not insignificant problem.


the American Vaping Association, criticized the study findings.


"This study, like so many


performed by researchers looking to generate headlines, fails to compare the effects of vaping nicotine-con- taining liquid with other activities, such as smoking cigarettes, non-nicotine


using liquid


coffee," Conley said. "Even


if such or drinking comparisons


were used, the value of this paper is limited, as it is not exactly breaking news that nicotine has short-term impacts


system," he said. on the cardiovascular


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