Secondhand smoke also causes high blood pressure even in kids....
Today's Post: Thursday, 3-4-2010
Last Tuesday, 3-2-2010, Reuters had a story with this headline:
“Secondhand smoke damages arteries in teens: study.”
Finnish researchers reported that children as young as 13 who have evidence of secondhand smoke exposure in their blood also have visibly and significantly thicker arteries
So the damage caused by secondhand tobacco smoke starts in childhood and causes measurable damage by age 13.
Dr. Katariina Kallio of the University of Turku in Finland led the team which studied 494 children from 8 to 13.
They measured levels of cotinine, a byproduct of nicotine that is found in the blood after someone breathes in tobacco smoke. (With children that young, this was almost certainly secondhand smoke.)
They then divided the children into groups with high, intermediate and low cotinine levels. They used ultrasound to measure the thickness of the aorta and of the carotid artery in the neck.
(Artery walls look thicker on an ultrasound if they are damaged by the process of atherosclerosis.)
The children with the most cotinine in their blood had carotid artery walls that were, on average, 7 % thicker than the children with the lowest cotinine levels; and their aortas were 8 % thicker.
The researchers also used a test that measured the flexibility of the arteries in their arms which indicates blood vessel health and heart disease risk.
This measurement, called brachial artery flow-mediated dilation, was 15 % lower in teenagers with the highest levels of cotinine, they found.
"These findings suggest that children should not face exposure to tobacco smoke at all," Kallio said. "Even a little exposure to tobacco smoke may be harmful for blood vessels."
It’s pretty simple really. Exposure to tobacco smoke causes high blood pressure from these effects and sets the kids up to get heart attacks and/or strokes later in life that they might have avoided.
Worse, once this damage has been done, it’s hard to reverse by living a health supporting lifestyle later.
Such children are clearly more likely to have high blood pressure as adults and find it hard to lower without taking drugs. Those drugs all too often have ruinously damaging side effects on the quality of life of people who take them.
There are ways to partially reverse these effects that tobacco smoke causes. There are ways to lower high blood pressure without drugs. And there are ways to use the drugs that are both the most protective and have the fewest side effects. We’ve posted on each of these topics.
But wouldn’t it be nice if cigarettes were taxed so much most parents with children still at home could afford very few so they would either quit or slash the second hand smoke that their kids were exposed to by smoking 80% less?
Today's Post: Thursday, 3-4-2010
Last Tuesday, 3-2-2010, Reuters had a story with this headline:
“Secondhand smoke damages arteries in teens: study.”
Finnish researchers reported that children as young as 13 who have evidence of secondhand smoke exposure in their blood also have visibly and significantly thicker arteries
So the damage caused by secondhand tobacco smoke starts in childhood and causes measurable damage by age 13.
Dr. Katariina Kallio of the University of Turku in Finland led the team which studied 494 children from 8 to 13.
They measured levels of cotinine, a byproduct of nicotine that is found in the blood after someone breathes in tobacco smoke. (With children that young, this was almost certainly secondhand smoke.)
They then divided the children into groups with high, intermediate and low cotinine levels. They used ultrasound to measure the thickness of the aorta and of the carotid artery in the neck.
(Artery walls look thicker on an ultrasound if they are damaged by the process of atherosclerosis.)
The children with the most cotinine in their blood had carotid artery walls that were, on average, 7 % thicker than the children with the lowest cotinine levels; and their aortas were 8 % thicker.
The researchers also used a test that measured the flexibility of the arteries in their arms which indicates blood vessel health and heart disease risk.
This measurement, called brachial artery flow-mediated dilation, was 15 % lower in teenagers with the highest levels of cotinine, they found.
"These findings suggest that children should not face exposure to tobacco smoke at all," Kallio said. "Even a little exposure to tobacco smoke may be harmful for blood vessels."
It’s pretty simple really. Exposure to tobacco smoke causes high blood pressure from these effects and sets the kids up to get heart attacks and/or strokes later in life that they might have avoided.
Worse, once this damage has been done, it’s hard to reverse by living a health supporting lifestyle later.
Such children are clearly more likely to have high blood pressure as adults and find it hard to lower without taking drugs. Those drugs all too often have ruinously damaging side effects on the quality of life of people who take them.
There are ways to partially reverse these effects that tobacco smoke causes. There are ways to lower high blood pressure without drugs. And there are ways to use the drugs that are both the most protective and have the fewest side effects. We’ve posted on each of these topics.
But wouldn’t it be nice if cigarettes were taxed so much most parents with children still at home could afford very few so they would either quit or slash the second hand smoke that their kids were exposed to by smoking 80% less?
Labels: another reason to tax cigarettes and tobacco products more, children harmed by secondhand smoke, secondhand smoke causes high blood pressure - heart attacks - and strokes
posted by David at 2:54 PM
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