Funded by a five-year, $5.7 million grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a new study at the University of Wisconsin (UW) will examine the longer-term effects of vaping on the human body—specifically on heart and lung health.

The Vape Check study will recruit 400 participants aged 21 and older who have vaped regularly for a year or more and do not currently smoke, as well as 200 age- and gender-matched control participants who do not vape or smoke. The study will monitor the heart and lung health of each participant over the course of three years. Each will receive individualized test results and up to $675 for their participation.

“This study will produce the most informative evidence to date on how long-term vaping affects cardiovascular and pulmonary health as well as disease risk,” says James Stein, MD, Robert Turell Professor in Cardiovascular Research, Cardiovascular Medicine.

Dr. Stein, who is director of both the UW Health Preventive Cardiology Program and the UW Atherosclerosis Imaging Research Program (AIRP), will co-lead the project with the associate director of UW Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention (CTRI), Tim Baker, PhD, professor emeritus, General Internal Medicine.

Read the full story from the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

Banner: An imaging procedure in the AIRP lab. Credit: Clint Thayer/Department of Medicine.