New Study Examines Long-Term Cardiovascular Effects of E-Cigarette Vaping
PASADENA, Calif. — December 6, 2024 — A new study led by Dr. Robert A. Kloner, Chief Science Officer and Scientific Director of Cardiovascular Research at Huntington Medical Research Institutes (HMRI), explores how chronic exposure to electronic cigarette (E-cig) vapor affects cardiovascular function in both young and aged animal models.
Published in Scientific Reports, the paper — “Impact of Electronic Cigarette Vaping on the Cardiovascular Function in Young and Old Rats” — investigates whether sustained vaping exposure alters blood pressure, heart rate, or cardiac performance compared to traditional cigarette smoke.
The study, conducted by Wangde Dai, Jianru Shi, Juan Carreno, Michael T. Kleinman, David A. Herman, Rebecca J. Arechavala, Samantha Renusch, Irene Hasen, Amanda Ting, and Robert A. Kloner, exposed young and old rats to purified air, E-cig vapor (with or without nicotine), or conventional cigarette smoke over 12 weeks.
Results showed that:
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Cigarette smoke, not E-cig vapor, led to significant increases in blood pressure in young rats.
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E-cig vapor exposure (with or without nicotine) did not alter blood pressure, heart rate, or overall cardiac function in young animals.
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In older rats, chronic E-cig exposure was associated with increased heart and left-ventricular weight relative to body weight, suggesting greater cardiac stress or vulnerability in aging subjects.
“These findings help clarify the cardiovascular impact of chronic vaping compared to traditional smoking,” said Dr. Kloner. “While E-cig exposure did not raise blood pressure in younger subjects, the structural changes observed in older animals warrant caution and continued investigation.”
The research contributes to growing efforts to understand how vaping affects cardiovascular health across the lifespan — a critical question as e-cigarette use expands among younger and older populations alike.
Full article: Scientific Reports, December 6 2024