Vaping as opposed to cigarettes?

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I had a patient ask me if "vaping" e-cigarettes would be better than smoking. I really didn't have an answer, and am wondering what you all know about e-cigs. Are they a "better" alternative? Or one that can help patients quit?

Specializes in Neuro, Telemetry.

There's more articles on PubMed about the chemicals released by ecigs and what they do to indoor air and your lungs. Small body of research since they're so new, but here's more articles that I can't link to since my access is thru PubMed.

  • Comparative effects between electronic and cigarette smoke in human keratinocytes and epithelial lung cells - Toxicology in Vitro, volume 28, issue 5

    , August 2014, Pages 999–1005.


  • Use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) impairs indoor air quality and increases FeNO levels of e-cigarette consumers. Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2014 Jul;217(6):628-37. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2013.11.003. Epub 2013 Dec 6.

  • Chemical hazards present in liquids and vapors of electronic cigarettes.

    Arch Toxicol. 2014 Jul;88(7):1295-308. doi: 10.1007/s00204-014-1294-7. Epub 2014 Jun 11.


I know there are some longitudinal studies with results forthcoming, curious to see what they find....

Thanks! Last i looked into this was quite a while ago and before i was a nursing student with access to pubmed through our library. Ill have to go check it out.

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I've never had a patient ask me about vaping, but if I did I would probably tell them to discuss the risk/benefit with the doctor.

I've been vaping over a year now and it's the only thing I've ever tried that has gotten me off cigarettes.

I will clear one thing up, the juice is made of propylene glycol (which is recognized by the FDA, and there is a food grade version - look it up, it's in a ton of daily foods/drinks), vegetable glycerine (which is a natural oil type substance that is not harmful), and basically flavorings. And synthetic nicotine, of which if you buy juice from a reputable vendor they know the dosages and how to make them right. When you're seasoned, if someone sells you a bottle of 3mg that really has more, you'd be able to taste it. The juice also comes in zero nicotine, so you can truly quit smoking. The lower the nicotine, the more flavor the juice has. I'm at about 3mg right now.

I support it, and as I know there's truly not enough research to really say it's safe, I know someone who has been vaping for about ten years and he is perfectly healthy, and actually hasn't even had the common cold for the year and a half I've known him. Also, the vendor I buy from has a chemist who mixes their juice, so I can say yeah, I trust them with their ingredients.

I know it's not regulated by the FDA and its "new" so it's scary and everyone jumps to conclusions. But...it's your choice. And just saying, every bottle of e juice I've ever seen has "keep out of reach of children and pets" written clearly on the bottle. So that kid that drank it....someone was stupid there, and left it out.

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Propylene glycol is in all kinds of things we put in and on our bodies. It's the amount that makes it dangerous. We all know that even an overdose of water can kill you.

I, too, asked a pulmonologist about vaping. He believes it is less dangerous than smoking.

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I have used vaping for the past year and have noticed positive improvement in my own health however personal experience is anecdotal and doesnt provide the evidence we want for evidence based medicine. What i can tell you is that there has been no legitimate evidence to indicate that the inhalation of glycerin based nicotine products presents anymore harm than cigarette smoking and most studies point to the vaping of e-liquid to be less harmful than the combustion of tobacco. Vaping is absolutely safer in one specific way in that no Carbon Monoxide can be produced (combustion of a carbon based substance is what creates CO and vaping does not create combustion). I think it is very important in the medical community for us to think of vaping as less bad as opposed to good. the FDA does not allow Electronic cigarettes to be marketed for smoking cessation but that does not mean they cannot be used for harm reduction. As far as recommending them to patients i would opt for encouraging them to quit smoking all together but if they insist on continuing it would be worth a suggestion to minimize some of their risk. as fare as white papers indicating harm reductions take a look at this study https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/e-cigarettes-an-evidence-update

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