Study : Vaping helps smokers hearts

Introduction

The scientific team led by Professor Jacob George from the University of Dundee (UK) has just proven that long-term smokers who switch to e-cigarettes reach almost the level of vascular health as non-smoker after just one month. The scientists say they’ve discovered a "clear and early benefit" to switching from smoking to vaping.

The largest clinical trial on the subject to this date

The VESUVIUS study, for Vascular Effects of Regular Cigarettes Versus Electronic Cigarette Use, monitored 114 adult chronic smokers (smoking a minimum of 15 cigarettes a day for at least two years) without any established cardiovascular disease. These smokers were divided into 3 groups and monitored for 1 month. The first group switched to vaping with nicotine fluids in 16 mg/ml, the second one without nicotine and the last one kept smoking. The scientists measured arterial stiffness and endothelial function (vasodilation capacity), two well-known indicators for assessing cardiovascular risks.

After one month, the vaping groups recovered almost half of their vasodilation capacity

"They're not quite normal, but their vascular function improved quite significantly, just within a month," said Professor Jacob George ₁.

Those who gave up smoking for vaping saw their blood vessel functions improve an average percentage point of 1.5 in four weeks compared to those who kept smoking.

The authors state that a healthy non-smoker can expect an average score of 7.7% on the indicators used. Chronic smokers in the study who switched to nicotine vape saw their score increase from 5.5% to 6.7% at the end of the month. This means that within a month, switching to vaping got those smokers about halfway back to a healthy score.

The scientists also found out that women benefited more from vaping than men in each group. And smokers who best respected the strict use of e-cigarettes showed the greatest improvement. Let’s point out that there was no significant difference in vascular effects between the group that vaped with nicotine and the group that vaped without.

Long-term consequences, according to Professor Jacob George, should be further researched to determine whether this benefit would be maintained. If so, the risk of cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks, would be reduced by at least 13%.

Conclusion

The scientific study VESUVIUS (UK) has just proved that smokers of combustible cigarettes, especially women, significantly improved their vascular health after just one month by switching to e-cigarettes. The switch from smoking to vaping can therefore be considered a risk reduction measure.
Download the study pdf.