Over the last decade, new technology and suave marketing campaigns, have led to an exponential
increase in the popularity of vaping which has been concerning to many health professionals. The
numbers are staggering. In a 2019 survey for the united states it was found that almost a
third of 10th graders and half of youth aged 20 to 24 have either tried vaping or e-cigarettes.
Vaping was initially created as a less harmful means of smoking but it has clearly taken a turn
and attracted younger demographics getting them addicted to nicotine even though they
were not previous smokers. Though both vaping and smoking cigarettes are extremely harmful
and pose several health risks, vaping is still deemed as the less harmful of the
two. But what really is vaping and how does it differ from smoking? Smoking a traditional
cigarette involves ground tobacco being burned and then smoked through the cigarettes filter.
The process involved in vaping is a bit more complex due to the copious diversity
in vape devices and because vape's been used to inhale both nicotine and THC, which is the
active ingredient marijuana. However, a vape typically consists of a battery atomizer
cartridge or chamber and a mouthpiece power from the battery which is often rechargeable is used to
heat the atomizer which vaporizes the fluid or THC oil inside allowing it to be inhaled by the user.
Now at this point, public health campaigns have ensured that almost everyone in the western
world is aware that smoking has severe negative health effects and can cause respiratory disease,
stroke and increase your risk of cancer in over a dozen organs especially the lungs. One in five
deaths in the united states is due to smoking, with nearly 500 000 people dying per year. A
recent scientific review article containing 183 individual studies showed that vaping pose many of
the same cardiovascular health risks as smoking, being linked to high blood pressure, increased
heart rate, stress on the arteries and higher risk of heart attack. However, they also showed that
these risks were lower compared to traditional cigarettes. Studies have also shown that in a petri
dish, human lung cells exposed to vaping develop mutations similar to those of smokers that can
lead to lung cancer. Numerous studies on the long and short-term effects of vaping in human subjects
have also showed impaired lung function, with reduced nitrogen oxide being exhaled.
Additionally, they indicated that there was an insignificant decrease in overall lung function,
which is approximately half of what was seen in smoking. Overall, while the literature is still
developing, studies are beginning to show vaping-induced cytotoxicity in human cells
and a consensus is developing that it has real health risks, especially in your hearts and lungs.
A more specific symptom associated with vaping that made headlines in 2019
is e-cigarette or vaping-associated lung injury, also known as a EVALI. This severe disease had
a very sudden onset and is characterized by a systemic inflammatory response which leads to
lung dysfunction and hypoxia. 64 deaths nationwide were attributed to the disease and until recently
its cause was unknown. However, in February 2020, the CDC published reports stating that the outbreak
was driven by THC containing products from illicit sources, which often contained other more dangerous
chemicals. Thus, it is critical that THC vape users acquire their cartridges from reputable sources,
but it is important to note that because of the existence of counterfeits the safest option is to
quit. A very important issue to acknowledge is the limitations to our understanding of the topic of
vaping. There have been no long-term cohort studies following the same subjects over a period of years
or decades, and so it is impossible to know the long-term effects of vaping like we do smoking
this problem is compounded by the fact that the popularity of vaping is very recent
meaning scientists cannot find enough long-term users to even guess what
effect it has over the years or decades it may take for some symptoms to appear.
Despite its harms, the consensus that vaping a smaller health risk than traditional smoking
has led discussion around its potential as a smoking cessation or harm reduction strategy.
Anecdotal examples of people quitting smoking using vaping exist and there is more evidence
suggesting that people could have success switching from smoking to less harmful vaping.
The issues many medical professionals have with this argument according to Dr. Shmerling
of Harvard Health is that most new vapers have never smoked before and even more disturbingly,
many vapors begin smoking after starting. The existence of potentially less harmful methods
such as nicotine patches further complicates the issue and more in-depth studies are necessary.
Overall, while there's still lots of research to be done the consensus in some areas is clear:
if you do not currently smoke or vape: DON'T START! Vaping has both proven and potential health risks
at all lengths of exposure and its proliferation among mostly young non-smokers is extremely
worrying. At the same time it is now clear that vaping while likely more harmful than nicotine
patches is significantly less harmful than smoking, but whether it has utility long term
to help people quit smoking in nicotine is not fully understood. Thus, if you're
a current smoker considering switching to vaping, ask your doctor for their opinion,