Vaping combined with smoking is likely as harmful as smoking cigarettes alone

Smoking traditional cigarettes in addition to using e-cigarettes results in harmful health effects similar to smoking cigarettes exclusively, according to new research published today in the American Heart Association’s flagship journal Circulation.

Smoking, a well-known link to cardiovascular disease and death, appears to be on the decline. While the use of e-cigarettes, known as vaping, is increasingly popular, there has been limited research on the impact of vaping on the body.

In a large data analysis of more than 7,100 U.S. adults ages 18 and older, researchers studied the association of cigarette smoking and e-cigarette use with inflammation and oxidative stress as biomarkers. Inflammation and oxidative stress are key contributors to smoking-induced cardiovascular disease and their biomarkers have been shown to be predictors of cardiovascular events, including heart attack and heart failure.

“This study is among the first to use nationally representative data to…