Impact of Tobacco Versus Electronic Cigarette Smoking on Platelet Function

Abstract

Electronic cigarettes (E-cigarettes) have become popular as substitutes for conventional tobacco cigarettes or to aid quitting, but little is known about the potential risks to cardiovascular health for smokers and nonsmokers. We sought to compare the impact of E-cigarettes with conventional cigarettes on platelet function in healthy adult smokers and nonsmokers. A crossover single-blind study in 40 healthy participants (20 smokers, 20 nonsmokers, matched for age and sex) was conducted. Each participant smoked a conventional cigarette then returned 1 week later to vape a study E-cigarette with the same nominal nicotine content. Blood samples were drawn shortly before and 5 minutes after each episode and analyzed for platelet aggregation, soluble CD40-ligand (sCD40L) and soluble P-selectin (sP-selectin). At baseline, smokers had significantly higher levels of sCD40L and sP-selectin (all p ≤0.01) than nonsmokers. Within 5 minutes of using either a conventional cigarette or E-cigarette, changes in the levels of sCD40L, sP-selectin, and platelet aggregation (all p ≤0.01) were detectable in both smokers and nonsmokers. In smokers, there were no significant changes in sCD40L and sP-selectin but there was a significant increase in platelet aggregation. In nonsmokers, there was a significant increase in all markers of platelet activation following both cigarette and E-cigarette use. Both traditional and E-cigarettes have short-term effects on platelet activation, although in nonsmokers the use of E-cigarettes had a less important impact. In conclusion, we provide the first comparison data of the acute impact of Tobacco-cigarette and E-cigarette smoking on the platelet function in smokers and nonsmokers.