Even single e-cigarette vapor exposure can diminish cough reflex sensitivity

A new study has demonstrated that just one exposure to vapor from electronic cigarettes dampens the cough reflex.

Lead author Peter Dicpinigaitis, MD, Professor of Clinical Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, N.Y, said that although e-cigarettes have become popular worldwide, very little was known about their effect on the respiratory system.

The study conducted at American Thoracic Society showed that chronic tobacco cigarette smokers have reduced cough reflex sensitivity and the researchers theorized that the reduced sensitivity was caused by chronic cigarette smoke-induced desensitization of the airway cough receptors.

The 30 subjects in the current study were healthy adult lifetime nonsmokers. Researchers measured cough reflex sensitivity with the use of capsaicin, the pungent extract of red pepper. Capsaicin has been shown to safely and reproducibly induce cough in previous studies.

Cough reflex sensitivity was significantly diminished in subjects compared with baseline, however, 24 hours after the e-cig exposure, cough reflex sensitivity returned to baseline.