A groundbreaking international study conducted as part of the Veritas cohort project has provided crucial insights into the respiratory health of exclusive e-cigarette users with no established history of smoking. Published in Scientific Reports, the study assessed respiratory symptoms among adults who had never been habitual smokers but used e-cigarettes, offering a rare glimpse into the health effects of vaping in this specific population.
Led by researchers from CoEHAR and their global collaborators, the study compared respiratory symptoms between a cohort of e-cigarette users and a control group who had never smoked conventional cigarettes. The results indicate that individuals who have never smoked but exclusively used e-cigarette devices do not exhibit clinically relevant respiratory symptoms. Moreover, the study highlights the importance of distinguishing between statistically and clinically significant results when evaluating the health impacts of e-cigarettes.
“Veritas lays the groundwork for longitudinal research to further assess the long-term effects of e-cigarettes on respiratory health. These findings are essential for shaping public health policies based on scientific evidence, especially as we work to differentiate the effects of vaping from those of traditional smoking,” said Riccardo Polosa, founder of CoEHAR.
“What makes the Veritas project unique is not only its reach across six geographically diverse areas,” said Jeffrey Zamora, the study’s lead author, “but also its ability to provide data on the real-world use of e-cigarettes, including the most commonly used device types (refillable, disposable, pod-based) flavor preferences, and variations across different socio-cultural groups.”