E-cigarettes are booming. Many smokers even use them to get rid of their nicotine addiction. However, after several studies have already shown that vaping and the like are absolutely not a wise option, Swedish researchers with participation from Vienna have now even shown an increased risk of thrombosis when consuming e-cigarettes.
Gustaf Lyytinnen (Karolinska Institute/Stockholm) and his co-authors, including Lukasz Antoniewicz from the Vienna University Clinic of Internal Medicine II (Clinical Department of Pulmonology), conducted a study with 22 healthy occasional smokers as test subjects. They were aged between 18 and 45 and smoked up to ten cigarettes or used up to ten packs of snus a month. Prior to the start of the clinical trial, they were not allowed to use cigarettes, snus packs or other nicotine products (including marijuana), use anti-inflammatory drugs or engage in vigorous exercise for a week. Alcohol and caffeine were banned from 24 hours before the exams.
The subjects did not know when they smoked a placebo
Half of the subjects eventually inhaled 30 puffs of e-cigarettes with nicotine, the other half 30 puffs of placebo without nicotine. After a “washout period” of at least one week, this was repeated with the subjects being switched (e-cigarettes with nicotine versus placebo). The process was “blinded”, so no one knew who got what and when. Blood samples were taken from the subjects after 15 minutes and after one hour. At the same time, the function of the microvessels was determined at the start and after use of the e-cigarettes with nicotine or with a placebo function.
The results collected in this way speak for themselves: Compared to the nicotine-free aerosol, the use of the aerosol with nicotine from the e-cigarettes significantly increased the formation of platelet-rich and fibrin-rich blood clots after 15 minutes – with a normalization after 60 minutes. At the same time, the ability of the blood vessels to expand was temporarily disrupted. On the other hand, according to the scientists, there was no convincing evidence for an effect of e-cigarettes without nicotine. They identified the nicotine in e-cigarettes as the main cause.
Other studies have shown increased signs of inflammation in the lower respiratory tract, but also an increase in vascular stiffness, according to the study, which was published in the journal Cardiovascular Toxiology.
Source: Krone
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