Short-term physiological effects of the e-cigarette compared to regular cigarette

Electronic cigarettes (E-cigarettes), are battery-operated products designed to deliver nicotine, flavor and other chemicals. Few studies have assessed the short term effects of low dose nicotine e-cigarettes, while data about flavor e-cigarettes are scanty. This study was aimed to assess whether using a flavour e-cigarette for 5 min has an impact on the pulmonary function tests, fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) and fractional concentration of carbon monoxide in exhaled breath (FeCO) of healthy adult smokers and not smokers. Twenty healthy subjects (10 smokers and 10 non-smokers) participated in this laboratory-based randomised experimental study. Ab lib use of a flavor e-cigarette (NaturSmoke, l9Angelica Istituto Erboristico, Italy) for 5 min or a regular cigarette(r-cigarette) was assessed. R-cigarettes resulted in a statistically significant increased in FeCO (7,9 +/-7,5, vs 12.1 +/-9.9, p=0,0001)(marker of effective inhalation), while no significant changes were observed in FeNO. In the non-smokers group, r-cigarette also induced a significant decrease from baseline in FEV1 and FEF75% (FEV1%:98,9 +/-10,5 vs 95,9 +/-9,0, p=0,01; FEF75%:80,8 +/-34,9, vs 70,5 +/-27,7, p=0,03) while e-cigarette was associated with a reduction of FEF75% in the smokers (61,6 +/-18,7, vs 55.4 +/-17,7, p=0,04). Flavor e-cigarettes without nicotine assessed in the context of this study were found to have no immediate adverse physiologic effects after short-term use in the non-smokers and a small effect on FEF75% in the smokers group. The long-term health effects of e-cigarette use are unknown but worthy of further investigation.