Vaping substantially increases the risk of developing heart failure, new research suggests.
Those who use e-cigarettes are almost a fifth more likely to develop this deadly disease, according to a four-year study.
Experts said it was particularly worrying given the large number of young people taking up the habit and warned that “the health consequences are worth considering”.
Heart failure is a condition in which the heart becomes too stiff or too weak to pump blood as effectively as it should.
More than a million adults in the UK and around 6.5 million in the US suffer from its debilitating symptoms.
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Researchers tracked 175,000 adults in the US and found that those who used e-cigarettes were 19 percent more likely to develop heart failure.
The increased risk was found to be after adjusting for other factors that may cause the condition, such as whether participants were tobacco smokers or obese.
Dr. Yakubu Bene-Alhasan, lead author of the new study, from MedStar Health in Baltimore, said: “More and more studies are linking e-cigarettes to harmful effects and finding that they may not be as safe as previously thought.”
‘The difference we saw was substantial.
‘The health consequences are worth considering, especially when it comes to heart health.
‘I think this research should have been done a long time ago, especially considering how much e-cigarettes have gained ground.
Researchers tracked 175,000 adults in the United States and found that those who used e-cigarettes were 19 percent more likely to develop heart failure.
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“We don’t want to wait too long to eventually find out that it could be harmful, and by then a lot of damage may already have been done.”
“With more research, we will discover much more about the possible health consequences and improve information to the public.”
The findings are presented today at the American College of Cardiology’s annual scientific conference.
175,667 American adults participated in the study, with an average age of 52 years.
Some 3,242 of them developed heart failure during the four-year follow-up period.
E-cigarette use was associated with a statistically significant increase in the risk of the most common type of heart failure, known as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), in which the heart muscle becomes stiff and does not fill properly. of blood between contractions.
However, it was not found to increase the risk of reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), where the heart muscle weakens and the left ventricle does not contract as strongly as it should during contractions.
The findings are part of growing evidence about the potential long-term health harms caused by vaping.
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While health officials generally consider them less harmful than smoking, previous research has found that e-cigarettes cause the same increases in blood pressure and heart rate seen after smoking tobacco.
A study last month found that it caused cellular changes similar to those seen in smoking, which risk becoming cancerous.
Figures show one in five children have tried vaping despite it being illegal for under-18s, while the number of children using it has tripled in the last three years.
This led the Government to present a bill aimed at combating the scourge of child vaping.
Under the Tobacco and Vaporizers Bill, new powers are set out to restrict vape flavors and packaging intentionally marketed to children.
