WCLC 2016 | E-cigarettes and their health impacts

Charlotta Pisinger, PhD, MD, MPH of the Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark discusses e-cigarettes and their impact on health. She talks about her recently updated systematic review with the WHO, which shows a growing body of evidence that e-cigarettes are harmful. Increasing numbers of different brands and flavors mean research can’t keep up with their differing risk profiles. Some have a very high level of carcinogenic substances, some have none. She discusses animal studies of vapor exposure that show that animals develop asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), as well as having an increased risk of infections and higher mortality. Human studies showed that the quantity of particles received in lungs is the same as smoking and many studies show that there is a significant airway obstruction. Dr Pisinger concludes that lung disease can be expected as a side effect of e-cigarette use. Recorded at the 2016 World Conference of Lung Cancer (WCLC) of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) in Vienna, Austria.