The debate on the merits of vaping continues. The basic issues are ones that we have discussed before, namely, is vaping a safe alternative to tobacco smoking and is the value of vaping as a means to quit tobacco use outweighed by the consequences of vaping. Keep in mind that vaping still does not stop the nicotine addiction caused by tobacco. The proponents of vaping argue that tobacco smoking is much more hazardous than vaping.
Whichever camp you may be in, keep your eye out for the facts. Of course, as a lung doctor I need to remind everyone that as an organism we were designed to breath air and anything else may be harmful. Recently, young adults ages 23 to 24 years old who were regular, daily e-cigarette vapers for more than 2 years were studied. These young adults had normal pulmonary functions, but when cardiopulmonary testing was performed problems were detected when compared to a group of non-vapers of the same age.
Cardiopulmonary testing involves the measurement of exercise performance and expired gas analysis. Vapers had a greater degree of shortness of breath compared to nonvapers and measurements of pulmonary capillary blood volume and membrane diffusion (measuring the circulation in the lung tissue) was abnormal. The maximum amount of activity was considerably less for the vapers as well.
I recognize the argument on both sides of the vaping issue, but the scientific data still indicates that vaping is not a safe habit to acquire.
