Increased risk of stroke due to smoking electronic cigarettes

In recent years, the trend of smoking electronic cigarettes has become a "fashion". In addition to showing off "style", many people do not foresee the many dangers of smoking electronic cigarettes.

Nowadays, electronic cigarettes are openly and widely advertised on the internet. With the focus on promoting them as a substitute for and a way to quit smoking, many people, especially young people, mistakenly believe that smoking electronic cigarettes is safe and not addictive. Many people use electronic cigarettes to free themselves from the habit of smoking traditional cigarettes.

A previously published study found that people who stopped smoking and switched to e-cigarettes had significant improvements in their vascular health. So many people switch to e-cigarettes, or vape both, believing that it is “less harmful.” But the reality is: The risk of stroke from vaping is doubled.

Smoking accelerates the hardening and narrowing of arteries. This process starts earlier and increases the likelihood of blood clots forming by two to four times. Smoking lowers high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and raises low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. This reduces the movement of cholesterol through the body and contributes to its accumulation in the arteries. This increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, and loss of limbs.

Researchers in the US conducted a national survey of nearly 80,000 American adults who had suffered a stroke. The survey found that e-cigarette users had a 15% higher risk of having a stroke in middle age than traditional cigarette smokers. Specifically, e-cigarette users had a stroke at an average age of 48 - a decade earlier than traditional cigarette smokers.

Researchers say e-cigarette smoke contains toxic chemicals that can damage blood vessels, causing blockages that lead to atherosclerosis; thereby reducing blood flow to the brain, leading to stroke.

Smoking increases the risk of stroke by narrowing the arteries in the brain and the arteries in the neck that lead to the brain. In addition, the arteries to the brain can become blocked by a blockage or blood clot, which can lead to stroke and paralysis. If the blood vessels to a part of the brain are completely blocked, that part of the brain dies. The person may lose the ability to speak, walk, or move normally, or depending on the part of the brain affected, the stroke can be fatal.

In particular, smoking both e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes is even more harmful, increasing the risk of stroke in young people and early middle age. Specifically, the analysis results based on health data show that people who smoke both types of cigarettes in parallel have a risk of stroke nearly 3 times higher than non-smokers.

Many previous studies have shown that all cigarettes are harmful and each type of cigarette is more harmful in certain aspects. E-cigarettes may be "less harmful" to blood vessels but cause more serious lung damage, because vitamin E acetate destroys the lungs many times faster than regular cigarettes. Nicotine from e-cigarette smoke also causes lung cancer and bladder cancer./.