Study finds no link between electronic cigarettes, heart disease risk.

Reuters (8/26, Hirschler) reports that study results presented Saturday at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology in Munich indicate that the use of electronic cigarettes is not associated with an increased risk for cardiac-related complications.

        Bloomberg News (8/25, Khan) adds that Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos and his team at the Athens-based Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center "examined the heart activity of 20 young daily smokers after one ordinary cigarette against 22 people who smoked an electronic cigarette" for seven minutes. Dr. Konstantinos told meeting attendees that whereas "tobacco smokers showed 'significant' disruptions of functions such as heartbeats or blood pressure, the effect of e-cigarettes on the heart was minimal." Their findings supported previous studies, which "found that the electronic devices would have to be smoked daily for four to 12 months to achieve the levels of nitrosamines" present within "a single tobacco cigarette," Konstantinos noted.