SALT LAKE CITY — A new study confirms the use of e-cigarettes — for several years touted as a safer alternative to cigarette smoking — is also a long-term risk factor for respiratory disease.
“Some pulmonary toxicants are in e-cigarette aerosol at higher levels than combusted cigarettes, including propylene glycol, diacetyl (butter flavor), cinnamaldehyde (cinnamon), benzaldehyde (cherry), and metals,” researchers from the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education wrote in the study published Monday in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The study found that repeated exposure to a chemical compound created by the heating of chemicals in e-liquids causes several issues linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
E-cigarette exposure also decreased immune defenses against viral and bacterial infections in mice, researchers wrote.
But researchers said those who use both cigarettes and e-cigarettes face more risk of respiratory disease than those who use one or the other.
The study emerges even as national and local health officials continue to investigate the mysterious lung illness linked to vaping THC. To date, the illness has caused nearly 2,500 hospitalizations and 52 deaths in the U.S.
Patients nationwide most commonly reportedly using a “mostly counterfeit” brand of vaping products called Dank Vapes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vitamin E acetate in the off-brand products has been determined as one cause of the illness. But officials say many different products remain under investigation, and there may be additional causes.
Utah’s number of confirmed cases of vaping-related illness has recently hovered around 115, as of the last update, with one death.
But state health officials say the illness has, with time, become less urgent.
“It has certainly slowed down. If you were to look at the cases sort of on a curve, we definitely hit a peak sometime in late July, mid August, and we’ve been on a pretty steady decline for the last several weeks,” Tom Hudachko, Utah Department of Health spokesman, said Monday.
The department is only counting the confirmed numbers of vaping illnesses every two weeks as a result of the decline, he said.
The new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine focused on e-cigarettes in general, and not the off-brand products that have been blamed for the recent outbreak of lung disease.
Researchers concluded that for those who already smoke cigarettes, switching to e-cigarettes “theoretically could reduce the risk of developing respiratory disease,” although evidence shows a “high prevalence of dual use” that creates more risk.
“In addition, for most smokers, using an e-cigarette is associated with lower odds of successfully quitting smoking. E-cigarettes should not be recommended,” researchers wrote.