E-Cigarettes-What a Practicing Cardiologist Needs to Know

Cardiologists and other physicians caring for patients who either smoke tobacco or are potential or active users of E-cigarettes have many questions about this increasingly popular method for delivering nicotine to the brain: (1) What are E-cigarettes? (2) What harm do E-cigarettes pose to users and bystanders? (3) Can E-cigarettes help tobacco smokers quit? (4) Are E-cigarettes a gateway to tobacco smoking, addicting new users, particularly the young, to nicotine? and (5) Should E-cigarettes be tolerated, or even favored over tobacco, as a less harmful substitute for those unable to stop smoking tobacco? This editorial summarizes evidence and expert opinion, preparing the physician for informed discussion of this controversial subject with their patients and colleagues. Although E-cigarettes may be less harmful than tobacco cigarettes, they are definitely not harmless. Particularly concerning are the well-financed commercial interests marketing E-cigarettes to our youth. As new regulatory policies are developed, we must not allow E-cigarettes to reverse our progress in reducing tobacco smoking, the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.