Smokers who switch to vaping rapidly boost heart health

An important benefit of vaping is that it helps people quit or reduce smoking cigarettes. Now, an important, groundbreaking university study found that smokers who switch to vaping rapidly improve their heart health. Named VESUVIUS, the British Heart Foundation commissioned the study and it is believed to have been the largest undertaken to-date in determining the impact of e-cigarettes on heart health. The findings were published by the prestigious Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The two-year trial was conducted by the University of Dundee’s School of Medicine and found that smokers who switched to e-cigarettes demonstrated a significant improvement in their vascular health within four weeks, with women experiencing greater gains by switching than men. The study also found that participants who transitioned away from cigarettes achieved greater improvement compared to those who continued to use both traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes.

A few key findings include:

• Participants made significant improvements in the vascular health of chronic smokers who transition to e-cigarettes.

• Women see greater health benefits than men following the switch to e-cigarettes.

• Cigarette smokers who switch to nicotine-containing vaporizers could significantly improve their vascular health. 

Professor Jacob George, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Therapeutics at Dundee University and Chief Investigator of the trial said, “For chronic tobacco smokers, there were significant improvements in vascular function within a month of switching from a tobacco cigarette to an e-cigarette.”

Professor George added that “By switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes we found an average percentage point improvement of 1.5 within just one month. This represents a significant improvement in vascular health. We also found that in the short term at least, regardless of whether the e-cigarette does or does not contain nicotine, a person will see vascular health improvements compared to smoking a traditional cigarette. The longer-term impact of nicotine requires further study and follow-up.”

It’s also worth noting that the study found that “Women benefited significantly more than men by making the switch to e-cigarettes, and we are still looking into the reasons for this. Our research also revealed that if a person had smoked less than 20 pack-years, their blood vessel stiffness also significantly improved compared to those who smoked more than 20 pack years.”

Serious Science About Vaping

The VESUVIUS study recruited 114 long-term cigarette smokers who had smoked at least 15 cigarettes per day for at least two years. Participants were allocated to one of three groups for one month: Those who continued smoking tobacco cigarettes, those who switched to e-cigarettes with nicotine and those who switched to e-cigarettes without nicotine. Participants were monitored throughout the test period while undergoing vascular testing before and after the trial.

Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation said, “This study suggests that vaping may be less harmful to your blood vessels than smoking cigarettes. Within just one month of ditching tobacco for electronic cigarettes, people’s blood vessel health had started to recover.” Without a doubt, that is good news. 

A video summary of the study can be viewed and downloaded here.