# Longitudinal Effects of E-cigarette Use on Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Health > **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · 2024 · $1,257,395 ## Abstract PROJECT SUMMARY Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) are used by millions of Americans, however, we do not understand their long-term health effects. Although ENDS use delivers far lower levels of carcinogens than tobacco smoking, very little is known about whether ENDS use affects the risks of developing cardiovascular (CV) or pulmonary diseases, two of the most highly prevalent causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States. This research proposal will quantify the effects of long-term ENDS use on validated and novel biomarkers of CV and pulmonary disease and how they are influenced by use heaviness, age, body weight, and co-use of other products. This research also will shed additional light on long-term ENDS use patterns and ENDS dependence. The importance of this study does not rest upon demonstrating adverse effects of ENDS use. We will recruit 400 long-term, stable users of ENDS and 200 age- and gender-matched control participants who do not use ENDS or combustible cigarettes. They will undergo comprehensive biomarker assessments over 36 months. Biomarkers assess CV and pulmonary health status and risk and include vital signs, fasting blood samples for systemic inflammation and oxidative stress, lipids, and markers of insulin resistance and cardiometabolic health. Arterial structure changes will be assessed using carotid ultrasound and brachial artery flow-mediated dilation. Sympathetic nervous system activation will be assessed by heart rate variability and arterial diameters. For pulmonary measures, we will obtain non-contrast quantitative computed tomography (CT) images to assess air trapping and texture-based measures of inflammation. We also will perform spirometry and measure exhaled nitric oxide. Integrated cardiopulmonary health will be assessed via treadmill stress testing. Other measures will include exhaled carbon monoxide, real-time measures of nicotine product use, nicotine dependence, and use of cannabis and alcohol. Biomarker status over time will be compared across groups and related to ENDS use heaviness, use of other products, and person factors (i.e., age, gender, race/ethnicity, weight, and smoking history). We will include ~130 participants who were phenotyped from 2019-2021. Our Primary Aim is to determine relationships between ENDS use heaviness and changes in our CV and pulmonary biomarkers over 3 years. We will compare biomarker status across ENDS users and non-users over time and examine associations between biomarker status and ENDS use heaviness within the ENDS user group. Our Secondary Aim is to characterize changes in ENDS use patterns and dependence over time and to determine how these are related to biomarker status changes and how they are influenced by the person factors described above. Our primary and secondary CV measures are changes in carotid intima-media thickness and grayscale median. Our primary and secondary pulmonary measures are the changes in the quantitative CT measures of ai... ## Key facts - **NIH application ID:** 10943297 - **Project number:** 1R01HL175602-01 - **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON - **Principal Investigator:** Timothy B Baker - **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.) - **Funding institute:** NIH - **Fiscal year:** 2024 - **Award amount:** $1,257,395 - **Award type:** 1 - **Project period:** 2024-09-06 → 2029-06-30 ## Primary source NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10943297 ## Citation > US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10943297, Longitudinal Effects of E-cigarette Use on Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Health (1R01HL175602-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10943297. Licensed CC0. --- *[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*