I’m a cardiologist – silent killers are rising in the young and vaping could be to blame

VAPES could lead to a rise in silent killers among young people, a surgeon has warned.

Jim Liu, a cardiologist at Ohio State University, said fumes that “stress the heart” could be a factor in the increase in heart disease among young people.

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The median age for people to have a heart attack is between 65 and 72, according to the NHS.

However, a 2022 US study found that the number of heart attack deaths in people between the ages of 25 and 44 has increased by 30 percent since the start of the Covid pandemic.

And another 2018 study by Johns Hopkins found that the rate of heart attacks in women aged 35 to 54 has increased over the past 20 years.

dr Liu wrote in Insider that the rise in cases could be due to more young people vaping.

According to the British Heart Foundation, smoking is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease.

But what a lot of people don’t realize is that “vapes and e-cigarettes can put a strain on your heart just like regular cigarettes,” explained Dr. liu

About one in 20 people in the US is vaping, and teenage e-cigarette use has increased by 1,800 percent over the past year, according to the FDA.

And vaping is also on the rise in the UK.

A 2022 Office of National Statistics report says 8.3 per cent of Britons now vape, up from 1.7 per cent a decade ago – equivalent to around 800,000 people.

Scientists say e-cigarettes are safer than tobacco, but they still don’t fully understand the risks, and data on vaping’s effects on the heart is limited.

But a 2018 study suggests that vaping daily could double your risk of heart attack.

dr Liu added that the rise in obesity could also contribute to the rise in heart attacks.

Obesity rates in the US rose from 3 percent before the pandemic to 4.4 percent between 2020 and 2021, according to federal data, as more people increased their alcohol consumption.

And in Britain, the obesity rate skyrocketed after lockdown, with 40 per cent of adults gaining an average of 3kg, government data suggests.

dr Liu said, “Due to the pandemic, people may be a little less active and maybe eat worse.

“This could potentially translate into worsening blood pressure, increased weight and long-term health problems, particularly cardiovascular problems.”

What is a heart attack?

Your heart muscle needs oxygen to survive.

And heart attacks occur when the flow of blood that brings oxygen to the heart muscle is severely reduced or stopped entirely.

This happens when arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle become narrowed by a buildup of fat, cholesterol, and other substances collectively known as plaque.

When plaque ruptures in a heart artery, a blood clot forms around the plaque.

This blood clot can block blood flow through the artery to the heart muscle and cause a heart attack.