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More than 64 million people globally are affected by heart failureTrusted Source — a cardiovascular condition where the heart muscle is not able to pump enough blood for the body. Heart failure can occurTrusted Source if the heart muscle is damaged by infection, illegal drug use, high blood pressure, a congenital heart defect, heart attack, irregular heart rhythm, certain diseases including diabetes and coronary artery disease, and cigarette smoking. Now, a new study presented at the American College of Cardiology annual scientific session earlier this month reports that people who use e-cigarettes have a much higher risk of developing heart failure compared to those who have never vaped. The results of this study have yet to be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. E-cigarette use raises heart failure risk by 19% According to Yakubu Bene-Alhasan, MD, MPH, a resident physician at MedStar Health in Baltimore and lead author of this study, although some studies have been conducted on the association between vaping and cardiovascular diseasesTrusted Source, there is a knowledge gap when it comes to heart failure. "Heart failure is a condition with high morbidity and mortality," Bene-Alhasan explained to Medical News Today. "Knowing if vaping could impact heart failure is useful in drawing up interventions to reduce the scourge of heart failure." For this study, Bene-Alhasan and his team reviewed data from electronic health records and surveys of more than 175,000 U.S. adults from the All of Us study, run by the National Institutes of Health. Upon analysis, researchers found that people who used e-cigarettes at any point in their lives were 19% more likely to develop heart failure than those who had never used e-cigarettes. "This was not too surprising (a finding) as previous studies have hinted at a risk of harm with e-cigarette use," Bene-Alhasan said. "A recent meta-analysis in NEJM found that vaping increased (the) risk of cardiovascular disease among others. Animal studies have also found changes in the heart leading to reduced contractility and relaxation after exposure to e-cigarettes. These are the same changes seen in heart failure," he added.