- No short or medium-term respiratory impact from vaping found
- Findings true regardless of the pattern of vaping
- 12 systematic reviews analysed by respected CoEHAR team
- Findings follow separate study showing vaping causes no significant rise in respiratory symptoms
Vaping does not cause a significant change in lung function, a new umbrella review has concluded.
The report by the Centre of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR), published in Tobacco Insights, found no short or medium-term respiratory impact from vaping. This held true regardless of a person’s pattern of vaping.
Led by Dr. Giusy Rita Maria La Rosa, Professor Riccardo Polosa, and Dr. Renée O’Leary, the review analysed twelve systematic reviews on vape effects, categorising users into three groups: dual users (who smoke and vape), exclusive users (former smokers who switched to vaping), and naïve users (those who have never smoked but use vapes).
“Studies on the latest products on the market have shown reductions in chemical emissions,” said Dr. O’Leary, researcher at CoEHAR and head of the In Silico Science Project.
“Across all user categories, there were no statistically significant changes in respiratory function. The five systematic reviews in our analysis concluded that there is no definitive evidence of harm or benefit regardless of the pattern of [vape] use.”
No impact from vape use in short or medium term
“Current data do not show significant respiratory variations associated with e-cigarette use in the short or medium term,” said Dr. La Rosa, researcher at CoEHAR. She added, however, that due to the lack of adequate longitudinal studies, where patterns and changes are tracked over a long period of time, no definitive conclusions can be drawn.
The researchers said their results can be explained by considering “several important factors”. These are that acute studies provide data on short-term exposure to vaping and cannot be used to assess long-term effects; studies do not always account for participants’ smoking history; and individuals with low-frequency vape use are often grouped together with those who use vapes more frequently.
Regarding the quality of the included studies, only five out of 12 reviews were rated as having high or moderate confidence in their findings and reporting issues were common.
The review said: “The findings of the five high and moderate quality systematic reviews displayed a remarkable consensus: that regardless of the pattern of use, EC use did not result in a statistically significant or clinically relevant change in respiratory function.”
Vaping not associated with respiratory changes
Professor Polosa concluded: “The study highlights the importance of distinguishing between different vaping behaviors in future research, as well as addressing methodological weaknesses and biases observed in many previous studies on the topic. But it allows us to state once again that vaping cannot be associated with significant changes in respiratory function”
The latest review comes after a study by CoEHAR last year that found vaping does not lead to a meaningful rise in respiratory symptoms such as wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath.
The research, published in the journal Scientific Reports, compared respiratory symptoms among adults who vape – but crucially, have never been regular smokers – with those who have never smoked or vaped.
Unlike previous studies, this one excluded participants who had previously smoked, addressing a major limitation in understanding the health effects of vaping exclusively.
The international VERITAS project concluded that its results did not show a scientific link between vaping and respiratory symptoms.
Another CoEHAR review last year showed vapes were found to be the most effective aid for helping people quit smoking in eight out of 11 scientific studies.
In the remaining three studies, vapes were found to be equally as effective as other methods or no treatment – and no studies concluded they were less successful.
