- More than 64 million people worldwide suffer from heart failure.
- Heart failure can occur when the heart muscle is damaged in some way, such as by illness, high blood pressure, or smoking.
- People who use e-cigarettes have a much higher risk of developing heart failure than people who have never used e-cigarettes, according to a new study by researchers at MedStar Health.
More than 64 million people affected worldwide
heart failure
Now, a new study presented earlier this month at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Sessions shows that people who use e-cigarettes have a much greater risk of developing heart failure than those who have never vaped. is reported to be high..
The results of this study have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
According to Yakub Bene Alhassan, MD, MPH, a medical resident at MedStar Health in Baltimore and the study’s lead author, several studies have been conducted on the link between e-cigarettes and vaping. Although,
“Heart failure is a disease with high morbidity and mortality,” explained Dr. Bene Alhassan. Today’s medical news. “Knowing whether e-cigarettes can affect heart failure can help plan interventions to reduce the scourge of heart failure.”
For the study, Bene Alhassan and his team reviewed data from electronic health records and a survey of more than 175,000 U.S. adults from the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us study. .
In their analysis, researchers found that people who used e-cigarettes at some point in their lives were 19% more likely to develop heart failure than those who had never used e-cigarettes. I discovered.
“This was not too surprising, as previous studies have suggested a risk of harm from e-cigarette use,” Bene-Alhassan said.
“In a recent meta-analysis, NEJM They found that e-cigarettes, among other things, increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Animal studies have also found changes that lead to decreased heart contraction and relaxation after exposure to e-cigarettes. These are the same changes seen in heart failure, he added.
Scientists also found that e-cigarette use had the greatest impact on certain types of heart failure.
In this study, researchers reported that the increased risk of heart failure associated with e-cigarette use was statistically significant.
Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (also called diastolic heart failure) occurs when the heart can pump normally, but the muscles become too stiff to fill with blood properly.
Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction occurs when the heart muscle becomes weak and the left ventricle cannot contract hard enough to move blood.
“Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction is relatively poorly understood, but awareness is increasing,” Bene-Alhassan said.
“Traditional medicines used to treat heart failure are effective in reducing mortality in this type of heart failure. Therefore, its management must include strategies to prevent its development in the first place. “Knowing which species can cause heart failure is important for making preventive interventions,” he explained.
If e-cigarettes and other e-cigarette products are considered “safer” than cigarettes, why might using e-cigarettes and other e-cigarette products increase the risk of heart failure? ?
“‘Safer’ does not equal ‘safer,'” says Chen-Han Chen, M.D., a board-certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, California. This study talked about MNT.
“Other studies have shown that nicotine itself has negative effects on the heart. Especially in e-cigarettes, it is nicotine that affects the efficient functioning of the heart and causes worsening of cardiovascular disease. Briefly It’s nicotine. We know that nicotine is bad for you.”
— Dr. Chen-Han Chen
“E-cigarettes are also known to contain nicotine, and smoking is known to increase the risk of heart failure, so it’s no surprise that we’re seeing this in e-cigarettes,” says Jennifer Wong, a board-certified physician. said the M.D. Ph.D. A cardiologist and medical director of noninvasive cardiology at MemorialCare Heart and Vascular Institute at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California, he was also not involved in the study.
“There [are] “The aerosol products in e-cigarettes can also affect respiratory function and may lead to worsening of heart failure,” she said.
“E-cigarettes cause inflammation and increase lipid levels in the blood, which lead to atherosclerosis and are a risk factor for many cardiovascular diseases, including heart failure,” Bene-Alhassan added.
Bene Alhassan said doctors need to make patients aware of the link between e-cigarette use and increased risk of heart failure, as well as other known links.
“More research is needed, but patients need to know what we know now so they can make informed decisions,” he continued.
“Our findings should lead to further research on the effects of e-cigarettes. Our study has some limitations, and ideally, a causal study, i.e., a randomized clinical trial, should be conducted to corroborate our findings. “Studies should also be conducted in other populations, especially those at high risk of developing heart failure,” he added.
Chen said the findings further reinforce the need to raise public awareness about e-cigarettes and the risks associated with e-cigarettes.
“This should actually lead to further public information campaigns and public service announcements regarding the safety of e-cigarettes,” he said.
Wong said MNT She felt this study was useful information to share with patients, especially when trying to educate them about heart failure prevention measures.
“It would be interesting to know the mechanism of the effect that e-cigarettes have on heart failure and the heart in general. Is it an increase in blood pressure, an increase in atherosclerosis, or an indirect effect on the respiratory tract? “The heart?” she added.