Vaping Instead of Cigarette Smoking: A Panacea or Just Another Form of Cardiovascular Risk?

Since 2007, the electronic cigarette (EC), with its increasingly diverse array of device options, has gained popularity both among long-term tobacco cigarette (TC) smokers and among never-smoking youth. The absence of a number of known toxic by-products of TC smoking has helped cultivate the perception that ECs are healthy. However, an expanding literature has provided concerning evidence that a number of EC constituents, including nicotine, and their thermal degradation by-products may have adverse effects, including cardiovascular effects. In this review, we discuss the cardiovascular risks associated with EC vaping and compare this risk profile with TC smoking. Acknowledging the dynamic nature of EC vaping, we will focus on the latest developments, including the introduction of the pod-like device, which is the most popular EC device used today. We discuss the implications of a new, unique, nicotine chemistry that mimics the efficient and addictive nicotine delivery of TCs. Furthermore, we touch on the outbreak of the lethal lung disease associated with ECs, which exposed the lack of quality control in the EC industry. Along the way, we will identify the limitations of current knowledge and provide suggestions for future research. Overall, we conclude that although ECs may once have held promise as part of a harm-reduction strategy in people who smoke lethal TCs, this role has been largely offset by the unconscionable marketing to our youth, in addition to a failure of regulation and enforcement, leading to significant harm, especially in never-smokers who use them.