Dysregulation of vascular tone in young people who smoke electronic cigarettes

the aim of the study was to study the functional state of the cardiovascular system in young people who systematically use electronic cigarettes to identify potential risks of early development of cardiovascular diseases. A study was conducted in 12 students of 1-3 courses with more than 1 year of experience in smoking electronic cigarettes at St. Petersburg Medical University. The exclusion criteria from the study were traumatic brain injuries, chronic diseases, medication use, and traditional tobacco smoking. The state of peripheral blood flow was assessed by noninvasive photoplethysmography using the Pulse Lite Control complex. Additionally, the indicators of heart rate variability were evaluated: stress index, vagosympathetic balance index (LF/HF), centralization index. The data obtained were compared with the literature data. Nonparametric methods implemented in the Statistica 10.0 program were used for statistical processing. The study revealed a statistically significant increase in the reflection index in the main group (82%), compared with the standard values (40-70%). There was also a statistically significant increase in the height of pulse wave incision in the main group compared with the calculated standard values (p<0.01, Wilcoxon criterion). The revealed changes indicate an increase in the tone of muscle-type vessels. The majority of the subjects showed a lack of pronounced activation of the sympathetic nervous system, which may indicate a violation of peripheral rather than central mechanisms of vascular tone regulation, namely, the effects of vasoactive metabolites and endothelial factors. According to the literature, smoking electronic cigarettes is associated with oxidative stress, inflammation and endothelial dysfunction, which can lead to an increase in the tone of resistive vessels and, accordingly, be the pathogenetic basis of hypertensive angiodystonia. The increased tone of resistive vessels found in students who smoke electronic cigarettes may be one of the risk factors for developing hypertension in the future.

cardiovascular system, electronic cigarettes, photoplethysmography, heart rate variability, reflection index, vascular tone, oxidative stress, endothelial dysfunction, angiodystonia