Vaping and Heart Health Risks
Research indicates that vaping can damage arteries, increase blood pressure, and cause inflammation—early warning signs that often precede heart attacks and strokes.
Vaping: A Risk to the Heart?
Although many consider vaping a “safer” alternative to smoking, it may still pose significant risks to heart health. What is meant to protect users from harm could, in fact, expose the heart to danger.
Smoking, Inequality, and Heart Disease in the UK
Vaping does not exist separately from wider social issues like smoking, inequality, and the growing challenge of heart disease in the UK. Despite years of public health efforts, smoking remains prevalent in England’s most deprived areas.
- People facing financial hardship, job insecurity, and chronic stress are more inclined to smoke.
- Targeted marketing and scarce stop-smoking support make quitting even more difficult.
Prevalence of Risk Factors
Half of UK adults have high cholesterol, with many unaware of their condition. The poorest communities tend to experience the highest rates of smoking and other cardiovascular risk factors, such as elevated cholesterol. As vaping gains popularity in these areas, it may replace one harmful nicotine habit with another.
Switching from Smoking to Vaping
Many switch to vaping as a perceived harm reduction approach, but mounting evidence calls into question how much benefit this switch truly provides.
“Vaping can damage arteries, raise blood pressure and trigger inflammation – the same early warning signs that lead to heart attacks and strokes.”
Author’s summary: While vaping is often viewed as safer than smoking, emerging research reveals it may still harm cardiovascular health, especially in vulnerable communities facing multiple risk factors.