Johns Hopkins University led an investigation of nearly 250,000 medical records to find the connection between certain health conditions and e-cigarette use.
According to a release, the study lasted four years and “further verifies that while the use of either e-cigarettes or traditional “combustible” cigarettes is linked to higher risks and rates of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the effect is substantially stronger for traditional cigarettes.” Over 80% of the studied individuals said they never used e-cigarettes or combustible cigarettes. Less than 2% only used e-cigarettes, nearly 14% used only combustible cigarettes, and about 3% used both.
Individuals who developed a disease were grouped based on their smoking habits. Medical records showed “that exclusive e-cigarette use was not significantly associated with type 2 diabetes, heart failure or atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, but it was significantly associated with COPD.” Additionally, adults aged 30-70 had a slightly higher risk of hypertension. Those who reported only using combustible cigarettes had higher risk of all the listed health conditions. “Similar results were shown for dual use of combustible cigarettes and e-cigarettes although risk estimates were slightly larger than for exclusive combustible cigarette use.”
The study is published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research.
