Online Survey Shows How Using E-Cigarettes Affects Vapers’ Lungs
The results of a recent online survey conducted by The Ashtray Blog’s James Dunsworth and researcher Paul Bergen shed some light on a so-far largely ignored subject – how electronic cigarettes affect vapers’ lungs.
This new survey was conducted on over 1,000 e-cigarette users. Like Greek cardiology researcher, Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos, who was asked to analyze the result, notes “it should be mentioned that such surveys, like the one we are currently conducting, are attracting motivated users, therefore the results do not represent the true impact of e-cigarettes to the average random user. However, motivation is one of the key factors in achieving smoking cessation, whichever method you use. And such surveys give us the opportunity to evaluate the effects of e-cigarette use in a big population of users.” Let’s take a look at the questions people were asked and their answers:
Question 1: How long have you been using electronic cigarettes?
Results:
Question 2: Which of the following is true:
- After switching to ecigs, you smoked fewer tobacco cigarettes (or stopped smoking tobacco altogether).
- After switching to ecigs, you smoked more tobacco cigarettes.
- You didn’t smoke before using ecigs.
Results:
Question 3: Do you:
- vape daily and only vape
- vape mostly with the occasional or rare cigarette
- still smoke, but vape more than you smoke
- still smoke, and smoke more than you vape
Results:
Question 4:
If you had a recurring cough before switching to electronic cigarettes:
- is the cough worse?
- is the cough unchanged?
- has the cough got better or disappeared?
- question not applicable
Results:
Question 5: Has your ability to exercise:
- got worse
- improved
- stayed the same
- question not applicable
Results:
Question 6: Has your ability to do strenuous jobs (e.g. gardening, lifting, housework e.t.c.):
- got worse
- got better
- stayed the same
- question not applicable
Results:
Question 7: If you are aware of your lung capacity, has it:
- got worse
- improved
- stayed the same
- question not applicable
Results:
Question 8: Have changes in lung capacity been confirmed by a doctor?
- yes
- no
- question not applicable
Results:
Although the findings of such a survey cannot be compared with those of a scientific e-cigarette study, it does provide some intriguing results. Upon analyzing them, Dr. Farsalinos reached some interesting conclusions. You can read his full analysis here, but one that I found particularly interesting was that “in a group of motivated e-cigarette users we observe positive effects on respiratory function, while duration of e-cigarette use is associated with improvement in cough symptoms and exercise capacity. However, less beneficial effects were observed in users who continue to smoke, indicating that e-cigarettes should be used as a complete substitute for smoking.”
Source: The Ashtray Blog
Photos © The Smokers Angel
