The medical community has known for decades that smokers tend to be diagnosed with high blood pressure significantly more often than non-smokers.  Because of its vasoconstricting properties, the nicotine in combustible tobacco products has been widely assumed to be the reason that so many smokers suffer from hypertension.  However, a series of recent studies suggest that nicotine may have some very valuable health effects that were previously unrealized.  Scientists now believe that nicotine may improve cognitive memory in Alzheimer’s patients and may even reverse lung damage in asthmatics.

As far back as 2007, research indicates that nicotine consumption shows great promise in reducing the adverse health consequences of pregnancy-induced hypertension.  With the recent rise in popularity of vaping in recent years, two world-class scientists set out to determine if switching to electronic cigarettes produces any positive or negative health effects regarding hypertension or other myocardial functions in the general population. 

Vaping and high blood pressure

Since the e-liquids in e-cigs lack the estimated 6,000 additional chemicals found in combustible cigarettes but still contain small amounts of nicotine, do vapers suffer from high blood pressure just as much as smokers?  This simple question is the basis for a nicotine study conducted by Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos and Dr. Riccardo Polosa.

• Over a 1-year period, Polosa and Farsalinos monitored some 211 vapers, smokers, and dual users to determine their comparable levels of risk related to systolic and diastolic blood pressures.
• Participants were selected from an existing group of volunteers who had previously participated in the 2013 ECLAT studyfocusing on the measurable success rates of smoking cessation through vaping technology.
• Participants of the vaping group were divided into three primary categories: Low-nicotine, medium-nicotine, and high-nicotine vapers.
• Each of the three primary categories was further divided into additional sub-groupings: Quitters (or only-vapers), Reducers (or dual users), and Failures (smokers who vape less than 50% of the time).
• All vapers used the same cigalike device. Only the nicotine percentages of the e-liquids were different - based on the participants’ pre-assigned category groupings.
• 145 of the participants had already been diagnosed with high blood pressure before the study began.
• Another 66 were also documented to have signs of elevated heart rates.