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The Food and Drug Administration has just made a special announcement about a new health risk that could be linked to e-cigarettes: seizures.
Since June 2018, the agency has received what it has called a "recent rise" in reports where users describe seizures that may be related to the use of their e-cigarettes. The FDA collects information on vapor safety risks through its Safety Reporting Portal, where people who use e-cigarettes can share their experiences. Between reports through this portal and poison control centers, the FDA recorded 35 seizure reports between 2010 and early 2019 that could be related to vaping. Most of these, he said, involved "young or young adult users".
We know that nicotine intoxication can cause convulsions, such as when people swallow vape juice. But the FDA does not yet know what is the relationship between seizures and vaping, said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb in a statement released today. Some of these seizures may not be related or be caused by the inhalation of mbadive amounts of nicotine. This seems less plausible, says Peter Chai, a medical toxicologist at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital. "I think exposure (by skin contact or orally) in children, or exposure to steam in younger people (adolescents with whom we have seen a significant increase in The use of e-cigs), could be responsible for the rise of these crises, "he says in an email to The edge.
"It's almost impossible to have enough nicotine in your body to cause convulsions while smoking cigarettes," says medical toxicologist Edward W. Boyer, badociate professor of emergency medicine at the hospital Brigham and Women's. But similar cases of nicotine-related seizures have been badociated with its consumption. Boyer thinks it is plausible that e-cigarettes can provide enough nicotine to do the same. The truth is that there is not much data to exploit. And for the moment, FDA's Gottlieb said, "We can not yet say for sure that e-cigarettes are the cause of these seizures."
There are also many types of seizures that, according to the FDA, "result from a sudden and abnormal electrical activity in the brain." This can cause convulsions, but can also freeze and fix eyes. They usually do not cause long-term harm – but public health experts would still want to understand why and if they find that are related to vaping, how to prevent them.
So far, the reports do not seem to present a clear trend. The FDA said there were people who had reported an epileptic seizure after the first time, and people who had seizures after a vaping for a while. Some people had previously been diagnosed with epileptic seizures, and others suggested that they were also consuming other substances, such as cannabis or amphetamines. To make the agency work even more difficult, most did not specify the brand of juice or vape juice.
The FDA suspects that the number of cases of 35 is an underestimate, since people submit these reports voluntarily. But Chai expects that, now that this potential link exists, the FDA will get even more reports. The agency asked health professionals to be on the lookout for any seizures related to the vape. And he wants electronic cigarette users to warn their doctor if they have symptoms of seizures, which, according to the CDC, can range from tremors to confusion. The agency also asks people to report health and safety issues related to their safety reporting portal and provide detailed information, including the manufacturer and brand of e-cigarette they use. as well as the place where they bought it.
Scott Gottlieb, FDA's future commissioner, said in a statement: "Although 35 cases do not seem very interesting compared to the total number of people using e-cigarettes, we are nonetheless concerned about these reported cases."
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