2026-03-05 15:02:39
Regular vaping could raise the risk of high blood pressure – a key driver of deadly heart attacks.
While National Health Service (NHS) chiefs maintain vaping is safer than smoking, experts have long warned it is not risk-free.
E-cigarettes still contain harmful toxins and scientists say their long-term effects remain largely unknown.
Now researchers fear vaping alone could raise blood pressure — even without smoking.
Scientists at the University of Exeter analysed health data from 6,262 people aged between 12 and 80 as part of the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Among them, 1,190 participants admitted using nicotine within the previous five days through smoking, vaping, or both.
Smoking remained the most common habit, with 790 participants reporting recent tobacco use.
Researchers measured each participant’s blood pressure and heart rate three times using an upper-arm cuff to obtain an average reading.
Blood samples were also analysed for cholesterol and c-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation linked to tissue damage.
Elevated blood pressure was defined as 120/70mmHg or higher, while hypertension – a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes – was classified as readings of 140/90mmHg or above.
Results showed smokers and vapers had significantly higher blood pressure than non-smokers and were 46 per cent more likely to suffer hypertension.
Those who exclusively vaped had a 15 per cent higher risk of elevated blood pressure and were five per cent more likely to develop hypertension than non-smokers.
However, researchers cautioned the finding was not statistically significant due to the relatively small number of exclusive vapers in the study.
Professor Andrew Agbaje, a clinical epidemiologist and co-author, said rising blood pressure could reduce the time the heart has to rest between beats – potentially triggering arrhythmia, heart failure or heart attacks.
Smokers and vapers in the study also tended to be younger and had higher cholesterol and CRP levels than non-smokers.
The researchers warned that if vaping continues to rise, the link with hypertension may soon become clearer.
They concluded that preventing young people from starting either smoking or vaping may be the safest way to reduce long-term cardiovascular disease.
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