I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr April Bourgoin recently about vaping related lung injury. Dr Bourgoin joined us on the podcast to discuss OR Fires under her maiden name, April Ritter, back in February 2019. She recently married and has changed her name to April Ritter Bourgoin. I’m stoked she’s back to unpack the evolving epidemic of vaping associated lung injury. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is referring to this as “e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury (EVALI).”

Dr Bourgoin completed both her Masters of Nursing Science (MSN) and Doctorate of Nurse Anesthesia Practice at Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr Bourgoin is also a Major in the United States Army Reserves. Prior to becoming a CRNA, she served for eight years as an active duty commissioned officer in the Army with experience as a critical care Registered Nurse and flight nurse with the 82nd Airborne Dustoff medevac team. She served two combat tours prior to transferring to the Army Reserves and returning to school for her master’s and doctorate degrees in anesthesia.

In 2019, there’s been a dramatic increase in hospitalizations and numerous deaths from e-cigarette and vaping associated lung injury (EVALI). Below are links Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) pages with up-to-date information and statistics related to the outbreak as well as other resources.

Resources:

CDC EVALI Outbreak Website: https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/severe-lung-disease/healthcare-providers/index.html

CDC Update: Interim Guidance for Health Care Providers Evaluating and Caring for Patients with Suspected E-cigarette, or Vaping, Product Use Associated Lung Injury — United States, October 2019

Walley, S. C., Wilson, K. M., Winickoff, J. P., & Groner, J. (2019). A public health crisis: electronic cigarettes, vape, and JUUL. Pediatrics, 143(6), e20182741.

Maddock, S. D., Cirulis, M. M., Callahan, S. J., Keenan, L. M., Pirozzi, C. S., Raman, S. M., & Aberegg, S. K. (2019). Pulmonary lipid-laden macrophages and vaping. New England Journal of Medicine, 381(15), 1488-1489.

Layden, J. E., Ghinai, I., Pray, I., Kimball, A., Layer, M., Tenforde, M., … & Haupt, T. (2019). Pulmonary illness related to e-cigarette use in Illinois and Wisconsin—preliminary report. New England journal of medicine.

CDC-EVALI-Fact-SheetDownload

National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (US) Office on Smoking and Health. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US); 2014. Figure 2.1, Adult* per capita cigarette consumption and major smoking and health events,