Acute impact of active and passive electronic cigarette smoking on serum cotinine and lung function.
BACKGROUND
Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are becoming increasingly popular yet their effects on health remain unknown.


OBJECTIVE
To conduct the first comprehensive and standardized assessment of the acute impact of active and passive e-cigarette smoking on serum cotinine and lung function, as compared to active and passive tobacco cigarette smoking.


METHODS
Fifteen smokers (≥15 cigarettes/day; seven females; eight males) and 15 never-smokers (seven females; eight males) completed this repeated-measures controlled study. Smokers underwent a control session, an active tobacco cigarette (their favorite brand) smoking session and an active e-cigarette smoking session. Never-smokers underwent a control session, a passive tobacco cigarette smoking session and a passive e-cigarette smoking session. Serum cotinine, lung function, exhaled carbon monoxide and nitric oxide were assessed. The level of significance was set at p ≤ 0.001 to adjust for multiple comparisons.


RESULTS
e-Cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes generated similar (p > 0.001) effects on serum cotinine levels after active (60.6 ± 34.3 versus 61.3 ± 36.6 ng/ml) and passive (2.4 ± 0.9 versus 2.6 ± 0.6 ng/ml) smoking. Neither a brief session of active e-cigarette smoking (indicative: 3% reduction in FEV1/FVC) nor a 1 h passive e-cigarette smoking (indicative: 2.3% reduction in FEV1/FVC) significantly affected the lung function (p > 0.001). In contrast, active (indicative: 7.2% reduction in FEV1/FVC; p < 0.001) but not passive (indicative: 3.4% reduction in FEV1/FVC; p = 0.005) tobacco cigarette smoking undermined lung function.


CONCLUSIONS
Regarding short-term usage, the studied e-cigarettes generate smaller changes in lung function but similar nicotinergic impact to tobacco cigarettes. Future research should target the health effects of long-term e-cigarette usage, including the effects of nicotine dosage.
FAME Laboratory, Centre for Research and Technology Thessaly, Karies, Trikala, Greece. andreasflouris@gmail.com
Andreas D
AD
Flouris
Maria S
MS
Chorti
Konstantina P
KP
Poulianiti
Athanasios Z
AZ
Jamurtas
Konstantinos
K
Kostikas
Manolis N
MN
Tzatzarakis
A
A
Wallace Hayes
Aristidis M
AM
Tsatsakis
Yiannis
Y
Koutedakis
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002248:Carbon Monoxide / Q000378:metabolism; D003367:Cotinine / Q000097:blood*; D055615:Electrical Equipment and Supplies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000378:metabolism; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000097:blood; D013147:Spirometry; D062789:Tobacco Products; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects; D055815:Young Adult
D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D002248:Carbon Monoxide; D003367:Cotinine