What 6 Years and 800 People Reveal About the Long-Term Risks of Vaping

“Are e-cigarettes harmful to the body?” This has been one of the eternal debates surrounding e-cigarettes since their inception.

Despite numerous institutions, groups, and scholars worldwide attempting to uncover the truth, misleading media has prevented accurate information about e-cigarettes from reaching the public, leading to misunderstandings about e-cigarettes due to fragmented and false information.
 
Even the UK Department of Health's conclusion after years of research that "e-cigarettes are at least 95% less harmful than cigarettes" seems unconvincing in the face of various false messages.

Much of this is due to the lack of long-term systematic research on e-cigarettes.

To be fair, as many anti-e-cigarette advocates argue, even if e-cigarettes do not show obvious harm to the body in the short term, what harm might they cause after years or decades of use? Tobacco products do not cause noticeable changes in the body in the short term either. (In fact, carbon monoxide and tar begin to affect the body within 7 seconds to 2 hours after smoking.)

As e-cigarettes become more popular worldwide, they have evolved from initially being seen as "toys" into a series of complex social and public health issues, making the long-term safety of e-cigarette use a focal point of renewed attention and debate.

So, what harm does long-term e-cigarette use cause to the body when measured in years?

Back in 2017, a research team led by Dr. Riccardo Polosa from the University of Catania and UCLA conducted a 3.5-year follow-up study on a group of 9 young e-cigarette users who had never smoked. They monitored vital signs, including coronary arteries, circulatory system, and lungs. The research team also tracked a group of 12 individuals who neither smoked nor used e-cigarettes as a reference comparison.

Main monitoring items:

● Blood pressure

● Heart rate

● Weight

● Lung function

● Respiratory symptoms

● Exhaled nitric oxide

● Exhaled carbon monoxide

● High-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of the lungs

Ultimately, the research team found that e-cigarette users did not show negative health outcomes; in fact, the results were almost indistinguishable from those of the non-smoking, non-e-cigarette-using control group.

The survey results also indicated that daily exposure to e-cigarette aerosol did not cause significant changes in health outcomes, including lung function and lung inflammation.

Additionally, no significant structural abnormalities were found on HRCT, nor were there records of respiratory symptoms.

Although the sample size was small and lacked comparisons with smokers, the data analysis comparing it to the non-smoking group can reflect the potential long-term health risks of e-cigarette use.

Professor Polosa mentioned in a research report presented in Sydney, Australia: "It is reassuring to know that long-term e-cigarette use is unlikely to cause any significant health issues."

Over the 3.5 years of research, a complete set of standard health monitoring indicators was established. Even those who consumed the most e-liquid daily and used e-cigarettes the longest did not show signs of heart or lung damage, and even average heart rate and blood pressure remained unchanged.

It is important to note that young smokers show signs of lung damage within just two years of starting smoking.

Although this study's scale is limited, its significance is substantial because it is the first time long-term effects of e-cigarettes have been observed in a group of users without a smoking history. Previous studies were either time-limited or involved subjects with a smoking history, making it difficult to distinguish whether health issues were caused by cigarettes or e-cigarettes.

Just like the recently retracted paper on "e-cigarettes and heart disease," it was challenging to determine whether heart damage was due to cigarettes or e-cigarettes since the subjects all had a smoking history.
 
This research result is good news for e-cigarette users, but it is also good news for smokers, as many have given up trying e-cigarettes due to continuous misleading studies and biased news reports.

This study was presented at the e-cigarette summit held in London on November 17, 2017, and published in the journal Nature.

Follow-up research will soon begin, lasting 6 years with 800 participants.

Based on the findings of the 2017 study, Dr. Riccardo Polosa decided to conduct a larger follow-up study named "VERITAS" in 2020, seeking 800 participants from over 20 countries and regions for a long-term study lasting more than 6 years to further understand the long-term harms of e-cigarettes to users.
 
Currently, almost all assessments of e-cigarette users' health are based on individuals with a history of smoking, making it difficult to determine whether the effects on health are due to e-cigarettes or traditional cigarettes. This study will further validate the hypothesis that merely using e-cigarettes does not cause measurable health impacts.

The key to the research is to find a sufficiently large group of regular e-cigarette users without a smoking history, but such users only make up a small portion of the vaping population.
 
The VERITAS project is actively seeking participants, requiring good online skills, organizational abilities, and the ability to communicate well in written and spoken English (and their local language). Participants must meet the legal age requirements to purchase and use e-cigarettes legally in their locality.

Perhaps the truth about the long-term harms of e-cigarettes will be revealed in six years.