Muhammad Talal Ashraf and his colleagues recently published “Association between e‑cigarette use and myocardial infarction: a systematic review and meta‑analysis” that pools the results of epidemiological studies and found that overall e-cigarette users are more likely to have had heart attacks than nonusers (odds ratio [OR] 1.44; 95% CI 1.22-1.74). They also found that dualContinue reading “E-cigs associated with increased heart attacks; dual use is worse”
Category Archives: heart disease
Marijuana smokers have poorly functioning blood vessels like tobacco smokers
Leila Mohammadi, Matt Springer and their colleagues at UCSF presented a study at today’s (November 13, 2023) American Heart Association Annual Scientific Sessions showing that smoking marijuana compromises blood vessel function just like smoking tobacco cigarettes does. This result is not surprising because marijuana smoke is not that different from tobacco smoke. It is alsoContinue reading “Marijuana smokers have poorly functioning blood vessels like tobacco smokers “
Two new studies link marijuana with heart disease, including in non-tobacco smokers
Two papers are being presented today (November 13, 2023) at the American Heart Association Annual Scientific Sessions that show marijuana use is associated with increased cardiovascular disease. The first, Daily Marijuana Use is Associated With Incident Heart Failure: “All of Us” Research Program reports a 34% increased risk of incident heart failure in daily recreationalContinue reading “Two new studies link marijuana with heart disease, including in non-tobacco smokers”
Juul damages vascular function in people as much as a cigarette
There are several studies in people showing that earlier generations of e-cigarettes inhibit normal blood vessel function as well as studies in animals showing that this is the case for a wide variety of e-cigarettes, including Juul. Now Ziyad Ben Taleb and colleagues have shown that Juul inhibits blood vessel function just like cigarettes doContinue reading “Juul damages vascular function in people as much as a cigarette”
UC publishes oral history of Stanton Glantz: Putting Cardiovascular, Epidemiological, Economic, Political, and Policy Research into Action at UC San Francisco and Beyond
Today the Oral History Center at the University of California Bancroft Library published an oral history of my career, which is freely available to all. Beginning in elementary school in Cleveland, Ohio, the history follows me through college and gradual school. It discusses my work to develop the emergency protocols for the Apollo 5 missionContinue reading “UC publishes oral history of Stanton Glantz: Putting Cardiovascular, Epidemiological, Economic, Political, and Policy Research into Action at UC San Francisco and Beyond”
Watch “E-cigarettes: Harm enhancement and protection of global tobacco interests”
On May 31, 2023, I delivered an invited lecture to the Associação Brasileira de Estudos do Álcool e outras Drogas (Brazilian Association for the Study of Alcohol and Other Drugs) entitled “E-cigarettes: Harm enhancement and protection of global tobacco interests.” As the title indicates it is a comprehensive review of the current state of knowledgeContinue reading “Watch “E-cigarettes: Harm enhancement and protection of global tobacco interests””
First US study linking e-cig use to metabolic syndrome; dual use worse than smoking
The list of diseases associated with e-cigarette use keeps growing. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions characterized by abdominal obesity, abnormal blood lipids, elevated blood pressure, and elevated blood sugar. Metabolic syndrome increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, and cancer among other outcomes. Earlier research from Korea found an association between e-cigaretteContinue reading “First US study linking e-cig use to metabolic syndrome; dual use worse than smoking”
Two new reviews summarize how e-cigs adversely affect the cardiovascular system
As with cigarette smoking, e-cigarettes have major adverse effects on the cardiovascular system. And, in contrast to cancer, these changes occur quickly. Two recent papers, Association of Electronic Cigarette Exposure on Cardiovascular Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis and Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems and Cardiovascular/Cardiometabolic Health, provide comprehensive summaries on the specific adverse biological effectsContinue reading “Two new reviews summarize how e-cigs adversely affect the cardiovascular system”
Even a little smoking is bad: Implications for harm reduction
I just came on two important papers — Association of Long-term, Low-Intensity Smoking With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study and Association between long-term low-intensity cigarette smoking and incidence of smoking-related cancer in the National Institutes of Health-AARP cohort by Maki Inoue Choi and her colleagues atContinue reading “Even a little smoking is bad: Implications for harm reduction”
Using e-cigs, cigs, heated tobacco products, or marijuana once a day increases risk of heart arrythmias and causes remodeling of the heart
Huiliang Qiu, Matt Springer, and colleagues’ paper “Increased vulnerability to atrial and ventricular arrhythmias caused by different types of inhaled tobacco or marijuana products” makes two important points: (1) even very short daily exposures to tobacco and marijuana products have serious cumulative effects on the heart, and (2) nicotine and THC, the psychoactive components ofContinue reading “Using e-cigs, cigs, heated tobacco products, or marijuana once a day increases risk of heart arrythmias and causes remodeling of the heart“