New Study Reveals Cardiovascular Harm from Chronic Nicotine Exposure

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PASADENA, Calif. — June 27, 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), shows that chronic nicotine exposure—whether delivered by electronic or traditional cigarettes—produces measurable adverse effects on cardiovascular function.

Published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the paper — “Adverse Cardiovascular Effects of Nicotine Delivered by Chronic Electronic Cigarettes or Standard Cigarettes Captured by Cardiovascular Intrinsic Frequencies” — applied a novel analytical method called Cardiovascular Intrinsic Frequency (IF) analysis to detect subtle heart performance changes that standard blood pressure and echocardiographic measures might miss.

The study, authored by Rashid Alavi, Wangde Dai, Sohrab P. Mazandarani, Rebecca J. Arechavala, David A. Herman, Michael T. Kleinman, Robert A. Kloner, and Niema M. Pahlevan, evaluated preclinical models chronically exposed to electronic-cigarette vapor or conventional cigarette smoke.

Key findings include:

  • Both e-cigarette and cigarette nicotine exposure altered intrinsic cardiovascular frequency signals, reflecting impaired cardiac function and vascular stiffness.

  • Traditional hemodynamic measurements underestimated these nicotine-induced effects, demonstrating the sensitivity of the intrinsic frequency method.

  • The results provide mechanistic evidence that long-term nicotine exposure—regardless of delivery system—poses measurable cardiovascular risks.

“Even when conventional metrics appear normal, advanced analysis reveals that chronic nicotine exposure disrupts cardiovascular dynamics,” said Dr. Kloner. “These findings challenge assumptions that vaping is a safer long-term alternative to smoking.”

This study continues HMRI’s collaboration with engineering and physiology partners to apply novel signal-processing methods to cardiovascular research.

Full article: Journal of the American Heart Association, June 27 2024