Preliminary results about the breath of passive smokers and vapers based on the use of portable air monitoring devices

Preliminary studies were made on the effect of both, classical smoking and electronic cigarettes (ECs) vaping, based on the quality of the indoor air and the breath of passive smokers. Portable air monitoring devices were used to evaluate carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), particulate materials (PM), formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in indoor air and breath of active and passive smokers and vapers. As preliminary results, it can be observed that the major part of PMs liberated in classical smoking and ECs vaping correspond to the lowest size, which is the most dangerous for human health. However, the number of smallest PMs formed during vaping is around 5000 ± 1000 μg m− 3, three times lower than that formed during smoking, 18,600 ± 600 μg m− 3. In addition, passive exposure to classical cigarette smoking affects significantly the CO and VOCs levels in exhaled breath of passive smokers increasing from < LOD and 488 ppb to 1300 ppb and 614 ppb, respectively. On the contrary, CO and VOC values after vaping remain constant before and after secondhand exposure in the breath of passive vapers and correspond to values under the limit of detection and 470 ppb, respectively. On the other hand, the presence of PMs in the breath of passive smokers was 1269 ± 295 μg m− 3 as comparison with 21 ± 7 μg m− 3 determined in the breath of passive vapers. Regarding CO2, only the smoke of classical cigarettes increased the concentration in relation to ambient air or human breath.