Electronic cigarettes linked to lung cancer, study finds

Electronic cigarettes, or vapes, have long been touted as a much safer alternative to cigarettes, with some companies claiming their products pose virtually no cancer risk.

But alarming new research appears to overturn this perceived notion.

In a first study of its kind, researchers analyzed health data from 4.3 million former smokers and found that those who switched to vaping were twice as likely to die of lung cancer as those who who had started eating turkey.

The findings call into question public health initiatives around the world, many of which involve encouraging smokers to switch to vaping to prevent lung disease.

Study author Dr. Yeon Wook Kim, professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Seoul National University Hospital, said the results show that the “potential harms” of using of electronic cigarettes must be taken into account by doctors when discussing smoking cessation with their patients.

Advertised as an aid to smoking cessation, many tobacco smokers have turned to these devices, which contain far fewer chemicals.

Cigarettes contain more than 7,000 chemicals, many of which are carcinogenic, while vapes are believed to contain around 2,000.

E-cigarettes also do not produce tar or carbon monoxide, considered two of the most harmful elements in tobacco smoke.

The problem with e-cigarettes, however, is that chemical reactions between the liquid and the metal result in the release of toxic metals such as arsenic, chromium, nickel and lead.

And more recent studies have shown that these metals are associated with a host of negative health effects, such as popcorn lung — inflammation of the lungs that causes wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath.

However, lung cancer as a risk factor had not yet been studied in depth – until now.

The disease affects approximately 234,580 Americans and causes 125,070 deaths per year.

According to the CDC, smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, causing nearly half a million deaths.

And the health agency said smoking caused about 90 percent of all lung cancer deaths.

For the study, researchers examined data from South Korea’s national health screening program from 2012 to 2014 and 2018.

Participants were divided into six groups based on their smoking history and whether they turned to e-cigs.

Researchers found that 53,350 people developed lung cancer and 6,350 died from it.

Ex-cigarette smokers who had quit five or more years previously and turned to vaping were twice as likely to experience a lung cancer-related death as ex-smokers who did not vape.

Additionally, former smokers who quit less than five years ago and started vaping had a 23% higher risk of developing lung cancer and a 71% higher risk of lung cancer-related death.

Based on their results, the authors concluded: “Clinicians should highlight the potential harms of alternative e-cigarette use when integrating smoking cessation interventions to reduce lung cancer risk .”

The study was presented at the 2024 American Thoracic Society International Conference and an abstract was published in the American Journal and Critical Care Medicine.