The takeaway
Among cardiac inpatients, vaping was linked with a longer hospital stay.
In this study, patients who had used e-cigarettes stayed in the hospital for about 13.1 days, compared with 10.8 days among those who had never used e-cigarettes. Current users had the longest average stay, at 13.9 days.
Why did they look at this?
E-cigarette use has become more common, but there is still a lot we do not know about how vaping affects people with heart disease.
For cardiac patients, recovery can already be complicated. A longer hospital stay may mean a more difficult recovery, more medical support, and greater pressure on the healthcare system.
This study asked a simple question: Are cardiac inpatients who vape staying in the hospital longer?
How did they look at this?
Researchers surveyed cardiac inpatients at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute between November 2019 and May 2020.
Of 1,616 admitted cardiac patients, 1,089 completed the survey. Patients were asked about e-cigarette use, tobacco use, cannabis use, alcohol intake, physical activity, medical history, and other factors. The researchers then looked at whether e-cigarette use was associated with length of hospital stay.
What did they find?
About 10.4% of patients had used e-cigarettes before. This included 4.9% former users and 5.5% current users.
After accounting for several other factors, patients who had ever used e-cigarettes stayed in the hospital about 2.45 days longer than patients who had never vaped. Current e-cigarette users stayed about 3.24 days longer than former and never users.
Why does this matter?
For patients, a few extra days in the hospital can be meaningful. It can mean more time away from home, more uncertainty, and a more complicated recovery.
For healthcare teams, length of stay also matters because cardiac admissions require significant resources. If vaping is associated with longer hospital stays, it may be important to ask about vaping during cardiac care and to connect patients with support for nicotine cessation when appropriate.
Careful Considerations
This study does not prove that vaping caused longer hospital stays.
It was an observational study, which means the researchers looked at real-world patterns rather than assigning people to vape or not vape. Other factors could still be involved. For example, some patients may have used both cigarettes and e-cigarettes, and some may have switched to vaping because they were already experiencing worse health.
The careful conclusion is that vaping was associated with longer stays among cardiac inpatients. More research is needed to understand whether vaping directly affects recovery.
Bottom line
Vaping is not just a youth or lifestyle issue. For people with heart disease, it may be relevant to recovery and hospital care. This study adds to the growing evidence that clinicians and researchers should pay closer attention to e-cigarette use among cardiac patients.
Read the full publication
Heshmati J, Mullen K-A, Walker KL, Mir H. Vaping is associated with increased length of stay among cardiac inpatients. Tobacco Induced Diseases. 2025;23:112. https://doi.org/10.18332/tid/207800