E-Cigarette Users Prone To Suffer COVID-19 Symptoms

People who use electronic cigarettes and test positive for COVID-19 have a higher frequency of experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, compared to people who don't vape, according to new research from Mayo Clinic, ScienceDaily reported.

Photo Insert: The use of e-cigarettes has grown significantly over the past decade, especially among high school students and young adults, though the short- and long-term health effects of e-cigarettes are unknown.

The study, which was published in the Journal of Primary Care & Community Health, finds that people who vape and test positive for COVID-19 symptoms have a higher frequency of experiencing symptoms such as headaches, muscle aches and pain, chest pain, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, and loss of the sense of smell or taste.

Also, the study finds that people who vape and also smoke tobacco, and who test positive for COVID-19, complained of labored breathing and had more frequent emergency department visits than those who did not vape.

"The study was designed to compare the frequency of common COVID-19 symptoms, such as loss of taste or smell, headache, muscle aches and chest tightness in COVID patients who vaped, compared with those who were not vapers," says David McFadden, M.D., a Mayo Clinic internist and the study's first author.

"We interviewed more than 280 COVID-positive vapers and compared them with 1,445 COVID-positive people of the same age and gender, and who don't vape. All of these common COVID symptoms were reported more frequently among people who vape."

Study participants were at least 18 and tested positive for COVID-19 at testing sites in Minnesota and Wisconsin between March 1, 2020, and Feb. 28. Data were then gathered on age; gender; ethnicity; race; COVID-19 symptoms; emergency department visits and hospitalizations; and lifestyle history, such as vaping and smoking.

The use of e-cigarettes has grown significantly over the past decade, especially among high school students and young adults, though the short- and long-term health effects of e-cigarettes are unknown.

While studies have not found a connection between using e-cigarettes and testing positive for COVID-19, the Mayo Clinic study finds an association between vaping and experiencing COVID-19 symptoms for those who test positive for COVID-19.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic