RESEARCH ARTICLE
Effects of Smoking Electronic Cigarettes on Pulmonary Function and Environmental Parameters
Luca Coppeta*, Andrea Magrini, Antonio Pietroiusti, Stefano Perrone, Mario Grana
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2018Volume: 11
First Page: 360
Last Page: 368
Publisher ID: TOPHJ-11-360
DOI: 10.2174/1874944501811010360
Article History:
Received Date: 6/6/2018Revision Received Date: 3/8/2018
Acceptance Date: 7/8/2018
Electronic publication date: 29/08/2018
Collection year: 2018
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Objectives:
Our study aims to evaluate whether the active use of the electronic cigarette (e-cig) can determine adverse effects on the respiratory function of healthy workers and whether potentially dangerous pollutants are released in the air.
Methods:
Thirty healthy workers (seventeen men and thirteen women, age range 27-37) were included in the study. Immediately before and after a 5-minute smoking session performed in two different days (first-day e-cig, second-day tobacco cigarette [t-cig]), they underwent spirometry evaluation. Furthermore, environmental particle monitoring was performed during the experimental procedure (i.e. before, during and after active smoking).
Results:
Our study showed slight reductions in the main pulmonary function data both after active e-cig and t-cig smoking. Changes in the main respiratory parameters were significantly different than baseline after 1 minute from e-cigarette smoking (3,95 vs 3,91 lt for FEV:P=0,03; 0,84 vs 0,83 for FEV1/FVC ratio:P=0,008; 4,23 vs 3,99 lt/min for FEF25-75%: P=0,03) but not after 15 minutes from active e-cigarette smoking, whereas after t-cig smoking, there was a significant drop in the 15 min value of FEV1(P=, FEF25-75% (P=0.01) and the FEV1/FVC ratio (P=0.007).
Regarding environmental exposure, the e-cig smoking was associated with the transient release of particles with a diameter < 1 micron which dropped to baseline after 5 minutes, whereas in the case of t-cig, the particles persisted for 60 min.
Conclusion:
In this study, the active use of e-cig for a short time caused similar, although less pronounced effects as tobacco smoke on the pulmonary function. Similarly, the particles released in the environment had lower concentration and persistence than those of t-cig. These data suggest that e-cig may potentially be dangerous for active smokers and the environment. Long-term studies seem warranted to discover the health effects of active and passive exposure to e-cig.
