An Italian study of e-cigarettes found that vaping can reduce asthma symptoms in patients who smoke, including those who use both. Most medical experts agree that patients with this lung problem often see a decrease in lung function, especially those with asthma who smoke. Worse, during treatment, their response to asthma medications is also significantly reduced.
While quitting smoking is always the best solution, many patients are unable to completely kick the habit. Professor Riccardo Polosa of the University of Catania decided to conduct a study on e-cigarettes to see if vaping could be a more effective alternative. The study, titled “Demonstrating the long-term effectiveness of smoking cessation in asthma patients who switched to e-cigarettes, ” was published on the Discovery Medicine website.
Summary of Professor Polosa's research
Professor Polosa’s research group included only eighteen asthma patients who smoked, but the study itself lasted two years. The patients’ lung function was measured at the start of the study and every six months. All participants agreed to use e-cigarettes throughout the study. The results were then compared to a control group of non-smoking asthma patients. The lung functions measured included.
- General function of the lungs.
- Concentrations of Methacholine PC20, AHR and ACQ.
- Respiratory response.
- Control asthma attacks.
- Asthma attacks.
- Measure tobacco use.
At 6 months, 1 year, 18 months, and 2 years, each participant completed a questionnaire about whether their asthma symptoms had increased or decreased. Not all 18 participants were able to switch to vaping, Polosa wrote in the report. Some used both, and two reported going back to smoking.
What Polosa’s team found was a dramatic improvement in lung function in the patients who vaped during the study. For those who admitted to using both, the scientists also recorded positive responses on most of the study’s indicators. However, the two participants who returned to smoking had significantly higher PC20 and ACQ scores and worsened asthma symptoms over the two-year study period.
Professor Riccardo Polosa and his team also say they believe vaping can reverse the damage to the airways and lungs caused by smoking in asthmatics . For vapers who don’t have asthma, this is still good news. The implicit conclusion of the study is that vaping causes less damage to the lungs than smoking.
Source: vapes.com
Translator: The Vape Club
