Switching to Electronic Cigarettes Improves Cardiovascular Health of Smokers, Even Among Dual Users

[nicnik]

Michael Siegel writes about a new Dr. Farsalinos study:

The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary: Switching to Electronic Cigarettes Improves Cardiovascular Health of Smokers, Even Among Dual Users

 

[schatz]

Maybe we should tell american heart association.

 

[schatz]

Maybe we should tell the American Heart Association.

 

[nicnik]

Maybe we should tell the American Heart Association.

You can expect nothing but heartbreak from them.

 

[defdock]

So how did Kristies lung collapse from dual using?

Only the government knows and their payed to tell you it's bad, not paid to tell you exactly why

 

[nicnik]

So how did Kristies lung collapse from dual using?

She wasn't dual using anymore. She quit vaping and went back to just smoking. After a while, her lung collapsed.

CDC seems to want to pretend that correlation equals cause, and that tiny samples are representative, so, shouldn't we be concerned that if we stop vaping, we'll be risking a collapsed lung?

 

[skoony]

Thanks for the post. I left a comment. I hope the usual suspects don't take
my head off for it.
Regards
Mike

 

[CarolT]

Same as I told Siegel:

What a dishonest study. Note how they refer to continuing smokers as "failures," although their subjects were recruited on the supposed basis of having no intention to quit. It makes one wonder why they obediently trotted off to the quit-smoking clinic despite not being compensated for their trouble.

Out of 300 subjects eligible, they ended up with 190, of whom 45 were lost. No differences in outcome were seen between continuing smokers, reducers and quitters among the the 145 remaining. The supposed reductions in blood pressure were among 66 cherry-picked for elevated blood pressure at baseline, who probably had "white coat hypertension." So it's just another piece of anti-smoker crap, propped up with all the fraudulent anti-smoker speculations that blame smoking for heart disease that's really caused by infection.

 

[AndriaD]

Thanks for the post. I left a comment. I hope the usual suspects don't take
my head off for it.
Regards
Mike

You mean those who, even if you gave 'em a piece of your mind, they wouldn't know what to do with it?

Andria

 

[skoony]

No differences in outcome were seen between continuing smokers, reducers and quitters among the the 145 remaining. The supposed reductions in blood pressure were among 66 cherry-picked for elevated blood pressure at baseline, who probably had "white coat hypertension."

I am confused.
from the article.
" The study reported that among smokers with high blood pressure at baseline, there was a significant reduction in blood pressure at one year follow-up among those who switched to e-cigarettes completely or who remained dual users by cut their cigarette consumption by at least 50%."
It's not cherry picking if only 66 had elevated blood pressure at baseline.
From the article.
"These results demonstrate that smokers who either quit smoking or greatly reduce the amount of their smoking by switching to electronic cigarettes experience an improvement in their cardiovascular health; specifically, a lowering of their blood pressure. This improvement is most striking among smokers with high blood pressure at baseline. The magnitude of the blood pressure decline is substantial, and is about twice as high among quitters as among dual users who substantially reduce their cigarette consumption. Quitting the use of electronic cigarettes as well as tobacco cigarettes did not add to the blood pressure decline."
Where is the 145 remaining come from the actual study? It's not referenced in the article.
Regards
Mike

 

[OldBatty]

Same as I told Siegel:

What a dishonest study. Note how they refer to continuing smokers as "failures," although their subjects were recruited on the supposed basis of having no intention to quit. It makes one wonder why they obediently trotted off to the quit-smoking clinic despite not being compensated for their trouble.

Out of 300 subjects eligible, they ended up with 190, of whom 45 were lost. No differences in outcome were seen between continuing smokers, reducers and quitters among the the 145 remaining. The supposed reductions in blood pressure were among 66 cherry-picked for elevated blood pressure at baseline, who probably had "white coat hypertension." So it's just another piece of anti-smoker crap, propped up with all the fraudulent anti-smoker speculations that blame smoking for heart disease that's really caused by infection.

So vaping cures "white coat hypertension"? Let me tell my wife, she has it bad. Had our annual physical last month and my BP was almost the lowest of the past year and hers was the highest. 38 readings spread out over the year on random days and time of day, so certainly a pattern.

 

[sofarsogood]

The study finds that quitting smoking lowers blood pressure and vaping does not increase it. I would have bet money on that finding before the study was done. No amount of science is going to convince tax supported institutions who will lose funding if all the smokers switch to vaping.

 

[CarolT]

So vaping cures "white coat hypertension"?

No, I mean that it subsides over time - when seeing the doctor no longer makes people nervous.

 

[CarolT]

The study finds that quitting smoking lowers blood pressure and vaping does not increase it. I would have bet money on that finding before the study was done. No amount of science is going to convince tax supported institutions who will lose funding if all the smokers switch to vaping.

But it didn't lower blood pressure in the whole group, just in their subgroup analysis.

 

[skoony]

But it didn't lower blood pressure in the whole group, just in their subgroup analysis.

From the article.
"These results demonstrate that smokers who either quit smoking or greatly reduce the amount of their smoking by switching to electronic cigarettes experience an improvement in their cardiovascular health; specifically, a lowering of their blood pressure.This improvement is most striking among smokers with high blood pressure at baseline."
I didn't read the study just the article. Siegel highlighted the dramatic reductions in
those that had high blood pressure at base but was unclear on the results of those
that didn't. From the above statement I would assume all who switched to vaping and or
vaped and reduce their smoking by half experienced a decline in blood pressure. It was
most dramatic in those that had high blood pressure at baseline. Baseline I'm assuming
is what's considered normal for ones height and weight.
Regards
Mike

 

[DC2]

"These results demonstrate that smokers who either quit smoking or greatly reduce the amount of their smoking by switching to electronic cigarettes experience an improvement in their cardiovascular health; specifically, a lowering of their blood pressure.This improvement is most striking among smokers with high blood pressure at baseline."

Seven years of reading posts on this forum has informed me that this is absolutely true.
So true, and so obvious in fact, that I don't need any study to tell me so.

 

[OldBatty]

No, I mean that it subsides over time - when seeing the doctor no longer makes people nervous.

Would be a stronger case if they monitored the study participants multiple times, but it looks like only twice a year apart.

Looked at 2014 which was my wife's first physical in ~26 years. Think you may be on to something! Her BP then was 174/90 which is alarming compared to this past Decembers 160/92. This inspired me to clean up the formatting on our home monitoring so I could paste it into a spreadsheet. Her average of 33 readings is 140.4/89.1 which includes the second "white coat spike" and also one or two where she was taking prescribed BP medication. (It like the two the year before had side effects..)

Dietary changes for both of us, legal herbs for her (PM me if curious) and of course very close monitoring.

 

[CarolT]

Baseline I'm assuming
is what's considered normal for ones height and weight.

No, "baseline" means at the first measurement, regardless of normalcy or not.

 

[CarolT]

Where is the 145 remaining come from the actual study? It's not referenced in the article.
Regards
Mike

It's in the actual study.