Fresh health warning over vaping as shock study finds e-cigarettes may raise risk of heart failure

Vaping significantly increases the risk of developing heart failure, new research suggests.

Those who use e-cigarettes are almost a fifth more likely to develop the deadly condition, according to a four-year study.

Experts said this was particularly worrying given the large number of young people taking up the habit and warned it was ‘worth considering the implications for your health’.

Heart failure is a condition in which the heart becomes too stiff or weak to pump blood as effectively as possible.

More than a million British adults and around 6.5 million in the US suffer from the debilitating symptoms.

Researchers followed 175,000 adults in the US and found that those who used e-cigarettes were 19 percent more likely to develop heart failure.

The increased risk appeared to be true after adjusting for other factors that could cause the condition, such as whether the participants were tobacco smokers or obese.

Dr. Yakubu Bene-Alhasan, lead author of the new study, from MedStar Health in Baltimore, said: ‘More and more studies are linking e-cigarettes to harmful effects and concluding that it may not be as safe as previously thought.

‘The difference we saw was substantial.

‘It’s worth thinking about the implications for your health, especially when it comes to heart health.

‘I think this research is long overdue, especially given the popularity of e-cigarettes.

“We don’t want to wait too long to finally find out that it could be harmful, and by then a lot of damage may have already been done.”

‘With more research we will learn much more about the potential health effects and improve information for the public.’

The findings are presented today at the American College of Cardiology’s annual scientific conference.

The study involved 175,667 American adults, with an average age of 52 years.

About 3,242 of them developed heart failure during the four-year follow-up period.

E-cigarette use was associated with a statistically significant increase in the risk of the most common type of heart failure, known as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) – where the heart muscle becomes stiff and does not fill properly with blood between contractions.

However, it was not found to increase the risk of reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), where the heart muscle becomes weak and the left ventricle does not contract as hard as it should during contractions.

The findings are part of mounting evidence about the potential long-term health damage caused by vaping.

Although health officials generally consider it less harmful than smoking, previous research found that e-cigarettes cause the same increases in blood pressure and heart rate as after smoking tobacco.

A study last month found it caused cell changes similar to those caused by smoking, which put them at risk of becoming cancerous.

Figures show one in five children have tried vaping, despite it being illegal for under-18s, while the number of children using vaping has tripled in the past three years.

It prompted the government to introduce a bill to combat the scourge of vaping among children.

Under the Tobacco and Vapes Act, new powers will be introduced to restrict vape flavors and packaging deliberately marketed to children.