Dr Stuart Jones: respiratory physician on the new study showing vaping causes incurable lung disease

New research has confirmed there is an unmistakeable link between vaping and irreversible lung disease.

The study published by Johns Hopkins University tracked 250,000 people - and discovered that e-cigarette use is associated with increased new diagnoses of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in New Zealand.

Respiratory physician and Asthma and Respiratory Foundation adviser, Dr Stuart Jones, says it's been known that vaping comes with harmful side effects - but this study provides more concrete evidence about the damage. 

"The respiratory community aren't surprised at all that this result has come out - I guess it's what we've been warning about all along with the vaping that's been going on."

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now our groundbreaking new study has for the first time
linked vaping with irreversible lung disease. So this is a
study by John Hopkins Johns Hopkins University. It looked at
health data from about a quarter of a million people
found a significant link between vaping and COPD, which is
the fourth leading cause of death in New Zealand. Doctor
Stuart Jones is a respiratory physician and is with us
now has Stewart.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Cut to Heather, how are you?

Speaker 1 (00:23):
I'm very well, thank you. It seems to me, are
we surprised that if you're inhaling this weird stuff into
your lungs that you're probably going to get COPD?

Speaker 2 (00:32):
The answer is no, no, If the respiratory community aren't
surprised at all that this result has come out, I
guess it's what we've been warning about all along with
the vaping that's been going on, is that it does

(00:52):
I mean we've none for a while it's causes damage,
It causes inflammation to the airways and things like that,
but now we have a little bit more concrete evidence
that it's doing more permanent damage to those airways.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Now, can we say, based on this whether we think
vaping is necessarily better than ciggies.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah, Hither, it is important to note that that in
the study, it also the study demonstrated a higher incidence
of incidents COPD and people who were smoking combustible cigarettes.
So the rates of CPD that occurred with vaping alone
weren't as high as combustible cigarettes, but still significant. And

(01:38):
the other key point for this study is that the
worst people off were the people who combined cigarettes and vaping.
And that's what I'm worried that many people are still doing.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
So wait are you saying, because there were a lot
of people who will be smoking the ciggies maybe when
they're on the beers, and then the rest of the
time they'll just be doing the vaping to try to
cut down the bad sty But would they actually be
better off just packing one of the two and going
for it rather than doing the combo?

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah? Correct, correct, Because I mean we know that it
damages the airways in different ways, so the mechanism of
damage to the airways is different between vaping and cigarette smoking.
And effectively, what you're doing with the dual use is
you're doubling up. So that's definitely a no go. So

(02:29):
you know. Yeah, so vaping definitely does cause damage to
the airways. The only people who might get a benefit
is those people who can't stop smoking the cigarettes, but
they would only get the benefit if they make a
complete switch.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Okay, hey Stuart, thank you. I mean there is some
at least some useful information there for people if you
choose which way you're going to die, but don't go
for both ways, because that's not a good idea. For
more from Heather Duplessy Alan Drive, listen live to news
talks it'd be from four pm we or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.