Two new analyses from research comparing cardiovascular function in people who vape, people who smoke and people who did not use any nicotine found significant negative health impacts among participants after vaping and smoking combustible cigarettes. In one report, people who used e-cigarettes and people who smoked combustible cigarettes had greater increases in blood pressure, heart rate and blood vessel constriction, immediately after vaping or smoking, compared to people who did not use any nicotine. In a second report from the same researchers, people who used e-cigarettes consistently performed worse on treadmill exercise measurements that predict heart disease risk, compared to people who did not use any nicotine. Researchers noted the findings are particularly concerning because the negative impact on cardiovascular function among the people who vaped was similar to the impact on the people who used combustible cigarettes, even though those who used e-cigarettes were younger (average age of 27.4 years vs. 42 years, respectively) and had vaped for nearly two decades less than the other group smoked (average 4.1 years vaping vs. 23 years smoking).

Electrocardiogram (ECG) measures taken after the first pig-to-human heart transplant found significantly different electrical conduction characteristics compared to those seen in native pig hearts (pig heart transplanted in a pig). Common ECG measures are typically shorter in a pig than in a human, yet, in the Jan. 2022 pig-to-human heart transplant, these ECG measures were unexpectedly prolonged.

Social vulnerabilities, such as living in poverty, living in a single-parent household, not having a car or being described as a minority, were associated with cardiometabolic risk during pregnancy. Social vulnerability was associated with increased cardiometabolic risk factors, such as obesity, pre-pregnancy Type 2 diabetes or pre-pregnancy high blood pressure, among pregnant women.

People with peripheral artery disease (PAD) who live in a food desert, which is a community with low levels of access to retail outlets selling healthy and affordable foods, were 17% more likely to experience death, heart attack or stroke compared with those who had adequate access to healthy, nutrition-rich food. People with PAD living in food deserts were less likely to have a car and more likely to be Black or Hispanic, live in urban areas and have chronic kidney disease, Type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure. Women with PAD were less likely to receive optimal medical treatment and more likely to be diagnosed with malnutrition and other chronic health conditions regardless of food access.

After a steady decline from 2010-2019, heart disease death rates rose significantly in the U.S with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The increase in the death rate from heart disease represents roughly 5 years of lost progress among all adults and about 10 years of lost progress among Black adults and younger adults.

A small, short-term study of young adults without cardiovascular disease or heart disease risk factors found that several volatile organic compounds released by pod-based e-cigarettes were associated with changes in blood pressure, heart rate and blood vessel dilation. Pod-based e-cigarette users and traditional combustible cigarette users had 8% higher systolic (top-number) blood pressure and a higher heart rate compared to non-users. 64% of the adults who used e-cigarettes used them exclusively over traditional cigarettes, and 37% of e-cigarette users never smoked traditional cigarettes. The study found the vascular (arteries and veins that circulate blood throughout the body) changes associated with using e-cigarettes were similar between the two groups.