Effects of e-cigarettes and vaping devices on cardiac and pulmonary physiology.

Introduction:
This text provides a comprehensive review of the effects of e-cigarettes and vaping devices on cardiac and pulmonary physiology. The authors summarize findings from human and animal studies on the impact of e-cigarette use on the heart and lungs. The review highlights the urgent need for further research to define the long-term health effects of e-cigarette use in humans.

Key Points:

* E-cigarette aerosols contain harmful substances, including heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, and cancer-causing chemicals.
* acute exposure to e-cigarette aerosols can increase airway resistance, while chronic exposure can lead to airway reactivity, airway obstruction, inflammation, and emphysema.
* Nicotine in e-cigarette aerosols can cause acute cardiovascular changes, including increased heart rate, blood pressure, and arterial stiffness.
* Chronic e-cigarette use can lead to increased arterial stiffness, vascular endothelial changes, increased angiogenesis, cardiorenal fibrosis, and atherosclerotic plaque formation.
* animal studies have shown that chronic e-cigarette exposure can affect aortic stiffness, ejection fraction, atherosclerosis, and vascular endothelial function.
* The lack of regulation of e-cigarettes and e-liquids means that these devices and their aerosols contain known and unknown harmful chemicals, which can lead to deadly consequences.

Main Message:
The review highlights the urgent need for further research to define the long-term health effects of e-cigarette use in humans. The chemical profiles of e-cigarette aerosols are almost entirely different than cigarette smoke, and the sheer number of chemicals utilized in vaping liquids makes it challenging for researchers to define their health effects. animal studies are crucial in defining physiological effects of chronic inhalation of these chemicals before epidemiological studies are possible in humans over the course of decades of use. The lack of regulation of e-cigarettes and e-liquids means that these devices and their aerosols contain known and unknown harmful chemicals, which can lead to deadly consequences. Therefore, it is essential to conduct well-controlled animal exposure models and unbiased acute and sub-acute exposure data from randomized, controlled human subject studies to better understand the effects of e-cigarette use on pulmonary physiology.

Tsai M, Byun MK, Shin J, Crotty alexander LE. Effects of e-cigarettes and vaping devices on cardiac and pulmonary physiology. The Journal of physiology. 2020;598(22):5039-5062. doi:10.1113/JP279754