Internal medicine

Pathology

Oxidative stress

Smoking cessation

Disease

Cardiovascular health

Biology

Hotline

Political science

Intensive care medicine

Electronic cigarette

Tobacco smoke

Nicotine

Harm

Secondhand smoke

Toxicology

Computer science

Cause of death

Cigarette smoke

Medicine

Telecommunications

Environmental health

Vascular Health and Risk Management

Abstract: While tobacco cigarette (TC) smoking has continued to drop to all-time lows, the use of electronic cigarettes (ECs), introduced in the US in 2007, has been rising dramatically, especially among youth. In EC emissions, nicotine is the major biologically active element, while levels of carcinogens and harmful combustion products that typify TC smoke are very low or even undetectable. TCs cause cardiovascular harm by activation of inflammatory pathways and oxidative damage, leading to atherogenesis and thrombosis, as well as through sympathetic activation triggering ischemia and arrhythmia. While ECs are generally believed to be safer than TCs, there remain many uncertainties regarding the overall cardiovascular health effects of EC usage. In this review, we discuss the various components of EC smoke and review the potential mechanisms of cardiovascular injury caused by EC use. We also discuss the controversy regarding the increasing epidemic of youth EC use weighed against the use of ECs as a smoking-cessation aid. Keywords: electronic cigarettes, cigarette smoking, cardiovascular disease, nicotine

&lt;p&gt;Electronic cigarettes and cardiovascular health: what do we know so far?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Electronic cigarettes and cardiovascular health: what do we know so far?&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Electronic cigarettes and cardiovascular health: what do we know so far?</p>