A study has revealed that persons who engage in smoking e-cigarettes could be exposed to higher risk of developing pneumonia owing to the fact that vapor could help bacteria stick to cells lining the airways.
Traditional cigarettes have long been associated to heightened risk of suffering pneumonia, though it’s been less clear whether e-cigarettes might have the same effect.
Researchers conducted series of laboratory experiments to see whether exposure to e-cigarette vapor might increase levels of a molecule produced by airway lining cells, called platelet-activating factor receptor (PAFR).
Pneumococcal bacteria make use of PAFR to aid them adhere to airway cells.
They exposed some human airway epithelial cells in culture dishes to e-cigarette vapor. Compared to cells that weren’t exposed, those that were had PAFR levels three times higher.
Then, they exposed mice to e-cigarette vapor and found higher PAFR production in the rodents who inhaled the fumes.
At the end, the researchers requested 17 persons who were regular smokers to come smoke an e-cigarette in the lab.
Compared with these participants’ PAFR levels measured before the vaping session, there was a three-fold increase in PAFR levels an hour after people smoked e-cigarettes.
Senior study author Jonathan Grigg of Queen Mary University of London said “The take-home message is that it is over-optimistic to assume that all of the adverse effects of cigarette smoking are reduced by switching to vaping.”
“It also raises the question that, even if we have not proved that vaping increases the risk of pneumonia, for young people taking up vaping for the first time, a precautionary approach would suggest that the risk should be assumed to exist until proved otherwise,” Grigg said.
Big U.S. tobacco companies are all developing e-cigarettes. The battery-powered gadgets feature a glowing tip and a heating element that turns liquid nicotine and flavorings into a cloud of vapor that users inhale.
Even when e-liquids don’t contain nicotine, the lungs are still exposed to flavoring chemicals when the e-liquids are heated and the vapors are inhaled.
The researchers conclude that though the study is undersized and the results subject to verification in larger human trials, the findings still suggest that e-cigarettes aren’t risk-free and shouldn’t necessarily be considered a safe way for people to try to curb use of traditional cigarettes.
