Vitamin E Acetate as a Plausible Cause of Acute Vaping-related Illness

The United States Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been working with state investigators on reported cases of lung illnesses linked to e-cigarette or vaping products. Symptoms of difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, chest pains, gastrointestinal sickness leading to serious lung damage and death has been linked to the risk behavior of using vaping products bought on the streets in healthy young people. CDC has detected vitamin E acetate as a chemical of concern among people with the lung injury. Vitamin E acetate is a condensing agent in vaping products, and all injured lung fluid samples appear to harbor this agent. The mysterious outbreak is identified in individuals vaping within the 90 days, ranging over a few days to developing over several weeks. There is growing evidence that vaping is hazardous to your health including immediate health dangers such as death from respiratory causes, long term health effects, cardiovascular events, depression which increases the risk of suicidal thoughts and suicide. This review article summarizes the growing knowledge of acute respiratory complications associated with vaping.