E-cigarettes are widely promoted as safer alternatives to cigarettes. But a new study by CVRI Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education’s Dharma Bhatta, PhD, and Stanton Glantz, PhD shows just the opposite. Using data from a large national survey, they found that both e-cigarettes and combustible cigarettes are independently associated with increased risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack). Significantly, they found that people who continued to smoke will using e-cigarettes (so-called “dual use,” the most common use pattern, was riskier than using either product alone and switching from combustible cigarettes to e-cigarettes is not associated with
lower risk of myocardial infarction than continuing to smoke. Complete cessation is the only way to reduce risk of myocardial infarction.
The conclude that e-cigarettes should not be promoted or prescribed as a less risky alternative to combustible cigarettes and should not be recommended for smoking cessation among people with or at risk of myocardial infarction.