E-cigarette vaping harms mucus clearance, study suggests

New Delhi, June 08 (ANI): Today, people are highly resorting to the use of e-cigarettes to quit smoking. But e-cigarette vaping does more harm than good. A new study highlights that it hampers the cleaning of mucus from the airways. The study published in the Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine also stated that a single session of vaping can deliver more nicotine to the airways than smoking one cigarette. Researchers report that exposing human airway cells to e-cigarette vapour containing nicotine in culture resulted in a decreased ability to move mucus or phlegm across the surface. This phenomenon is called "mucociliary dysfunction." Mucociliary dysfunction is a feature of many lung diseases, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and cystic fibrosis. "This study grew out of our team's research on the influence of tobacco smoke on mucus clearance from the airways," said senior author Matthias Salathe, University of Kansas Medical Center. Salathe