Can anything be done about the direct link between nicotine and cardiovascular problems like hypertension?
Nicotine has acute effects in raising heart rate and BP by virtue of the fact that it’s a catecholamine stimulant. However, in regular nicotine users, it’s not associated with higher BP in most epidemiological studies (measurement of BP is usually made after short term abstinence when acute BP effects have disappeared).
Smoking does cause cardiovascular disease, including hypertensive heart disease, and people have suggested that the acute effects of nicotine after long-term use may be to blame. But human studies of pure nicotine products have not found any significant associations between nicotine and serious cardiovascular events.
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