Heat-not-burn tobacco products and cardiovascular risk reduction

“

To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review synthesizing thus far conducted randomized controlled trials on the impact of HNB tobacco products as exposures particularly aiming at relation with cardiovascular risk. Overall, data synthesized in this systematic review reveals that by switching to HNB tobacco products from either conventional cigarettes, e-cigs, or other types of tobacco products, the reduced exposure is linked to improvements in biomarkers of effect related to cardiovascular disease risk, which carries clinical implications with respect to mechanistic pathways engaged in CVD development and progression. Even though there are indications that HNB products could benefit the cardiovascular system, further research to elucidate such indications would provide valuable knowledge that could strengthen the confidence in conclusions about the benefits themselves since reductions in biomarkers should not be generalized to imply health risk reduction. Perhaps dose-response relationships with biomarkers that are strongly predictive of adverse or favorable effects on the cardiovascular system could be a future direction of investigation. In addition, to further explore the impact of HNB products on cardiovascular disease, it is imperative that researchers aim for larger sample sizes and longitudinal studies.

”