Can vaping help smokers lower their blood pressure and avoid weight gain after quitting? If anything, switching from smoking to vaping at a young age could reduce the risk of heart disease later in life.
A study of hypertensive patients who smoked, vaped exclusively, or used vaping to quit smoking found that smokers who reduced their smoking or quit using vaping had “significant reductions” in systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
The study was led by Dr. Riccardo Polosa of the University of Catania, Italy, and published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. He has also conducted a number of studies on the effects of vaping, including one that found that quitting smoking or using vaping to quit smoking could reverse the damage caused by smoking in asthma patients.
Why is blood pressure important?
Heart disease and stroke are among the leading causes of sudden death in smokers. Compared with nonsmokers, smokers are twice as likely to die suddenly from heart disease, and young smokers are five times more likely. Smoking causes arteries to harden and leads to mild respiratory inflammation, both of which can lead to high blood pressure. And high blood pressure can increase a smoker’s risk of developing heart disease.
According to the authors, little is known about the long-term effects of smoking cessation tools on blood pressure in smokers with hypertension. Furthermore, the benefits of smoking are often overlooked because smokers subsequently gain weight. Weight gain is itself a risk factor for high blood pressure and heart disease, complicating the analysis.
Professor Polosa and his team found that smokers who used e-cigarettes were better able to limit their weight gain after quitting than those who did not use vapes. “The limited weight gain after using e-cigarettes may have contributed to the positive effects of this smoking cessation method on blood pressure and blood pressure control,” they concluded.
Despite limitations (lack of sample size, failure to control for other lifestyle factors, etc.), the study points to the possibility that vaping may play a role in helping smokers reduce their risk of serious cardiovascular disease. “Regular use of e-cigarettes may help smokers reduce their risk of developing blood pressure problems,” they concluded. They hope to see larger, more detailed studies in the future to confirm this conclusion.
This article was published on Vaping360 by Jim McDonald and translated by The Vape Club
