The Vape Check study, a collaboration between the UW Atherosclerosis Imaging Research Program and UW-CTRI, opened recruitment with a news conference this week at the UW Science Drive Medical Center, formerly known as the Research Park Clinic.
Journalists from more than a dozen outlets covered the opening of the study, supported by the National Institutes of Health through a five-year, $5.7 million grant to study the long-term effects of vaping on heart and lung health.
The news reached an estimated 1 million viewers. More than 500 people visited MyVapeCheck.com, approximately 250 signed up and more than 100 people screened in.
People who participate will get up to $675 for completing the three-year study with occasional visits. They’ll also get individualized test results, exemplifying the Wisconsin Idea of taking research out into communities throughout Wisconsin so residents can benefit.
Although previous studies have examined the physical effects of vaping, virtually all of these have examined very short-term or cross-sectional effects. These studies are valuable but do not provide the same degree of evidence as a study that follows people who vape for multiple years.
The study will set the record straight on vaping, according to Dr. James Stein, professor of medicine and director of both the UW Health Preventive Cardiology Program and the UW Atherosclerosis Imaging Research Program.
“This study will be one of the most comprehensive investigations into vaping’s health impacts that’s ever been performed,” Stein said at the news conference.
“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,” he said. Stein will co-lead the project with Dr. Tim Baker, UW-CTRI associate director.
The study team will recruit 400 participants ages 21 and older who have vaped regularly for a year or more and who do not currently smoke, as well as 200 age- and gender-matched control participants who do not vape or smoke.
Participants will undergo comprehensive biomarker assessments in Madison periodically for three years.
During these assessment appointments, researchers will test vital signs and obtain non-fasting blood samples for inflammation and cardiometabolic health. They will use ultrasound machines to check participants’ arteries to see if they’re becoming injured or undergoing other changes.
Stein and a team of pulmonology and cardiovascular clinical research collaborators will investigate participants’ heart rate variability and use CT scans, which are a diagnostic imaging procedure that uses a combination of X-rays and computer technology, to evaluate participants’ lung function and evidence of harm.
They also will obtain real-time measures of nicotine product use, nicotine dependence and other substances. They will determine if and how biomarker changes are related to vaping patterns and heaviness over time.
Importantly, they are not setting out to find harm caused by vaping; researchers are simply 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,” 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, or CLUES, which concluded in 2020 and showed that increases in motivation to quit predicted quitting success above and beyond all other smoking-related measures. Approximately 130 participants from the first study have expressed interest in participating in Vape Check.
Richard Gerhardt participated in the last vaping study at UW and is looking forward to doing so again with Vape Check. “It was pretty smooth, everybody was nice. We would do updates through a phone and we would come in and they would ask us questions and just see how we were doing.”
Information on the health effects of vaping is of significant public health relevance. A 2021 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that 13.2 million people aged 12 or older, or 4.7%, vaped nicotine in the past month. The highest prevalence was among young adults aged 18 to 25, or 14.1%, which is around 4.7 million people. Of middle and high school students in the United States, 10%, or about 2.8 million young people, reported vaping.
Alex Johnson also participated in the last UW vaping study. He switched from smoking completely to vaping, and said it helped.
“It seemed to be the better option as far as like being able to breathe normally,” Johnson said. “When I found out about this study, I was just really interested in the science of it, because everyone has different opinions. I enjoyed doing the study, and this staff, like the nurses and the doctors, we all had fun. They did a full workup of my lungs, my arteries, my heart, and I got to find out that I’m healthy, thankfully.”
