Researchers have found that smoking e-cigarettes can harm the lungs of smokers, especially those of young smokers who have mild asthmatic conditions, even though it has been promoted as a safer alternative to cigarette smoking.
The findings showed that e-cigarette smoking caused acute pulmonary function impairment, lasting for less than 30 minutes after smoking. “The results show that as it happens with cigarette smoking, e-cigarette smoking has more deleterious short-term effects on asthmatics compared with healthy smokers," said Andreas Lappas from the Hellenic Cancer Society in Athens, Greece.
In a study of 54 young cigarette and e-cigarettes smokers aged 18-31, 27 had mild controlled asthma and the other 27 were healthy. The results suggest that measurements of airway obstruction and inflammation were worse after e-cigarette sessions and these findings were more severe in asthmatics.
"It adds to the growing body of research pointing to the dangers of e-cigarettes. Especially for asthma, further research is needed in order to assess the risks of long-term e-cigarette use," Lappas added.
