Trial reportCancer prevention research (Philadelphia, Pa.)2020
Effects of Electronic Cigarette Constituents on the Human Lung: A Pilot Clinical Trial.
Trial report in Cancer prevention research (Philadelphia, Pa.), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 90 citations in OpenAlex.
- Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Inflammatory and Carcinogenic Biomarker Signatures in E-Cigarette Users: A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis of ∼24,000 Adults.International journal of public health · 2025Pooled it
- Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Chronic health effects associated with electronic cigarette use: A systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Lung Damage Caused by Heated Tobacco Products and Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Lung lipids associated with smoking and ECIG use in a cross-sectional study and clinical trial.Respiratory research · 2025Trial
- Noninvasive repeated sampling technique reveals specific respiratory cytokine signatures for people who use electronic-cigarette and dual-products obtained from a remote cohort of young adults.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2026Article
- Altered lung function in mice is a sensitive indicator of lung damage following 6 months of electronic nicotine delivery system aerosol exposure.American journal of physiology. Lung cellular and molecular physiology · 2026Article
- The respiratory epithelium in the era of vaping: insights fromEuropean respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2025Review
- Short-term effects of electronic cigarette smoking on cardiorespiratory parameters, volatile organic compounds and inflammatory markers.ERJ open research · 2025Article
- Article
- The e-cigarette assessment for youth-Revised (EAsY-R): Preliminary results of a pilot study of measure refinement via cognitive interviewing.Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence · 2024Article
- Current perspective on e-cigarette use and respiratory outcomes: mechanisms and messaging.Expert review of respiratory medicine · 2024Review
- Sex-related DNA methylation is associated with inflammation and gene expression in the lungs of healthy individuals.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The combination of propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin e-cigarette aerosols induces airway inflammation and mucus hyperconcentration.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Direct health implications of e-cigarette use: a systematic scoping review with evidence assessment.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Electronic cigarette (e-cig) use is continuing to increase, particularly among youth never-smokers, and is used by some smokers to quit. The acute and chronic toxicity of e-cig use is unclear generally in the context of increasing reports of inflammatory-type pneumonia in some e-cig users. To assess lung effects of e-cigs without nicotine or flavors, we conducted a pilot study with serial bronchoscopies over 4 weeks in 30 never-smokers, randomized either to a 4-week intervention with the use of e-cigs containing only 50% propylene glycol (PG) and 50% vegetable glycerine or to a no-use control group. Compliance to the e-cig intervention was assessed by participants sending daily puff counts and by urinary PG. Inflammatory cell counts and cytokines were determined in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluids. Genome-wide expression, miRNA, and mRNA were determined from bronchial epithelial cells. There were no significant differences in changes of BAL inflammatory cell counts or cytokines between baseline and follow-up, comparing the control and e-cig groups. However, in the intervention but not the control group, change in urinary PG as a marker of e-cig use and inhalation was significantly correlated with change in cell counts (cell concentrations, macrophages, and lymphocytes) and cytokines (IL8, IL13, and TNFα), although the absolute magnitude of changes was small. There were no significant changes in mRNA or miRNA gene expression. Although limited by study size and duration, this is the first experimental demonstration of an impact of e-cig use on inflammation in the human lung among never-smokers.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.