This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

E-cigarette use tied to higher odds of stroke

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

Patients who used electronic cigarettes had an increased risk for stroke, MI and angina or CHD, according to data presented at the International Stroke Conference.

“There is an association between e-cigarette use and stroke, heart attack and angina, but we can’t prove yet that e-cigarettes cause this,” Paul M. Ndunda, MD, assistant professor in the department of internal medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita, told Cardiology Today. “This justifies long-term studies to establish cause and effect relationship.”

Ndunda and Tabitha M. Muutu, MD, of the department of internal medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, analyzed data from the 2016 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System of 66,795 participants (49% women) who used e-cigarettes and 343,856 controls who never used e-cigarettes.

Compared with nonusers, those who used e-cigarettes were more likely to have a lower BMI (27.7 kg/m² vs. 28.1 kg/m²; P < .0001), were younger (44 years vs. 57 years; P < .0001) and had a lower rate of diabetes (9.8% vs. 12.1%; P < .0001). E-cigarette users were also more likely to smoke cigarettes vs. nonusers (78.7% vs. 37.4%; P < .0001), the researchers reported.

Patients who used electronic cigarettes had an increased risk for stroke, MI and angina or CHD, according to data presented at the International Stroke Conference.

Source:Shutterstock

Participants who used e-cigarettes had an increased risk for MI (OR = 1.59; 95% CI, 1.53-1.66), stroke (OR = 1.71; 95% CI, 1.64-1.8) and angina or CHD (OR = 1.4; 95% CI, 1.35-1.46), according to the study.

“The data are not enough to give clinical recommendations but supports discussing about the uncertainty about long-term safety of e-cigarettes,” Ndunda said in an interview. “However, based on previous data, e-cigarettes are known to pose less risk than combustible cigarette smoking and therefore smokers thinking of using e-cigarettes to quit smoking need to have a discussion with their health care provider.” – by Darlene Dobkowski

Reference:

Ndunda PM, et al. Abstract 9, Session A2: Community/Risk Factors Oral Abstracts I. Presented at: International Stroke Conference; Feb. 6-8, 2019; Honolulu.

Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.