The National Institutes of Health has funded a five-year, $5.7 million grant to the UW to study the long-term effects of vaping on heart and lung health.
People who participate will receive up to $675 for completing the three-year study. They’ll also get individualized test results and updates on their health.
Although some studies have examined the physical effects of vaping, virtually all of these have examined very short-term or cross-sectional effects. These studies do not provide the strong evidence as a study like this one which will follow people who vape for multiple years.
The study, known as Vape Check, will set the record straight on vaping. Dr. Jim Stein and Dr. Tim Baker are the principal investigators.
“This study will produce the most informative evidence to date on how long-term vaping affects cardiovascular and pulmonary health as well as disease risk,” said Stein, Director of both the UW Health Preventive Cardiology Program and the UW Atherosclerosis Imaging Research Program.
How will they do that?
Stein and Baker will lead a team of cardiology and pulmonology collaborators who will use ultrasound machines to check participants’ arteries to see if they’re becoming injured or undergoing other changes, investigate participants’ heart rate variability, and perform cardiopulmonary stress tests to assess participants’ fitness levels (VO2 max).
They also will use CT scans (a diagnostic imaging procedure that uses a combination of X-rays and computer technology) to evaluate participants’ lung function and evidence of harm.
Researchers will test vital signs and obtain non-fasting blood samples for inflammation and cardiometabolic health. They also will obtain real-time measures of nicotine product use, nicotine dependence, and other substances. They’ll determine if and how biomarker changes are related to vaping patterns and heaviness over time.
Importantly, they’re not setting out to find harm caused by vaping; they’re just interested in seeing how vaping affects the human body.
“If vaping is significantly harmful, we can tell the public so that they can make more informed choices about vaping,” Dr. Baker said. “Such results would also provide valuable guidance to clinicians and policymakers. If vaping is found not to be seriously harmful, this may encourage individuals to quit smoking and switch to vaping (ideally to exclusive use, not dual use). Such findings might also encourage the development of clinical harm reduction treatments involving vaping. Of course, while this single study will contribute relevant information, it cannot provide definitive evidence as to vaping’s health effects.”
Vape Check is a follow-up to the original Cardiac and Lung E-cigarette Smoking Study (CLUES). Approximately 130 participants from the first study have expressed interest in participating in Vape Check.
Information on the health effects of vaping is of great public health relevance because, according to the CDC, in 2021, 13.2 million people aged 12 or older (or 4.7%) vaped nicotine in the past month. The highest prevalence was amongst young adults aged 18 to 25 (14.1% or 4.7 million people). Ten percent of U.S. middle and high school students (2.8 million youth) reported vaping.
Co-Investigators from UW include Dr. Matthew Tattersall, Dr. Megan Piper, Dr. Wendy Slutske, Dr. Thomas Piasecki, Dr. Daniel Bolt, Dr. Mark Schiebler, Dr. Prashant Nagpal, and Dr. Hasmeena Kathuria. The Subaward Lead Researcher is Dr. Eric Hoffman and Subaward Co-Investigator is Dr. Sean Fain, both from the University of Iowa.
Also known as the Longitudinal Effects of E-cigarette Use on Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Health study, the team tentatively plans to begin recruiting participants in January 2025.