Sex Differences in the Vascular Effects of E-cigarette Use
Status:
Recruiting
Trial end date:
2025-11-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
The use of electronic nicotine delivery systems, or e-cigarettes - colloquially referred to
as "vaping" - in the United States has increased exponentially since their introduction to
the US market in 2007. Prevalence of ever and current e-cigarette use is highest among
teenagers and young adults with 16-28% of this population having reported vaping. While the
majority of e-cigarette users are current tobacco smokers, 32.5% of current e-cigarette users
are never- or former-smokers, representing a growing population of young adults who
exclusively vape. While e-cigarettes have been marketed as a safer alternative to tobacco
cigarettes, clinical studies examining these claims are limited. Cardiovascular disease (CVD)
is the primary cause of premature death among tobacco cigarette smokers and reductions in
vascular endothelial function, a significant predictor of future CVD, are detectible in
otherwise healthy young adults who smoke. Despite the explosion in e-cigarette use among
young adults, the health effects - especially the effects on mechanisms of vascular function
- of these devices remain relatively unexplored.
In this study, we use the blood vessels in the skin as a representative vascular bed for
examining mechanisms of microvascular dysfunction in humans. Using a minimally invasive
technique (intradermal microdialysis for the local delivery of pharmaceutical agents) we
examine the blood vessels in a dime-sized area of the skin in otherwise healthy young
(18-24yrs) chronic e-cigarette users. Local heating of the skin at the microdialysis sites is
used to explore differences in mechanisms governing microvascular control. As a compliment to
these measurements, we also draw blood from the subjects to measure circulating factors that
may contribute to cardiovascular health and examine markers of inflammatory activation. We
will also collect urine from female participants to measure estradiol.