CDC links Vitamin E additives to vaping related lung injuries

CDC links Vitamin E additives to vaping related lung injuries

ATLANTA — U.S. health officials have linked vitamin E acetate additives to a "vast majority" of vaping illness cases.

The CDC made those remarks in a news conference on December 20, citing the latest papers in a series of studies the agency carried out.

The agency says it has been tracking the vaping cases since July and confirmed that incidents of illnesses have declined.

According to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the CDC took bronchus and lung fluid samples from a large number of vaping illness patients across 16 states.

Analysis found vitamin E, a substance identified in e-cigarette product samples, in 48 out of 51 patients, but not in healthy people.

According to the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the CDC studied 38 vaping illness patients who died or were rehospitalized after hospital discharge.

The median time for patients to go back to the hospital was three days, and the median time from hospital discharge to death was four days.

The CDC advises doctors to follow up on patients soon after hospital discharge.

According to the same report, vaping illness patients over 50 years of age are more likely to die than other patients.

The CDC says that vaping illness patients with heart diseases and diabetes are significantly more likely to be readmitted after their initial hospitalization.