Cigarette Smoke Harmful for Children’s Hearts

Published on March 12, 2010 5:08 AM

Finnish researchers recently found thicker arteries in those kids younger than 13 years old who were and continue to be exposed to secondhand smoke.
Researchers explained that the harm produced by secondhand tobacco smoke begins in childhood and causes moderate damage among teens.

"Although other researches has found that passive smoke may be injurious for blood vessels among adults, we did not know until this study that these particular effects also happen between children and adolescents," explained Dr. Katariina Kallio of the University of Turku in Finland.

In this study were investigated 494 children, aged 8 to 13 years old, who had heart disease. They measured levels of cotinine, a byproduct of nicotine that is found in the blood after he/she was exposed to secondhand smoke.

They separated the children into groups with high, intermediate and low cotinine levels. Ultrasounds were used in this study for to measure the thickness of the aorta and of the carotid artery in the neck.

They observed that artery walls look thicker on an ultrasound if they are damaged by the process of atherosclerosis.
At the end of the investigation, researchers found that the children with the most cotinine in their blood had carotid artery walls 7 percent thicker than among the children with the lowest cotinine levels. And their aortas were also 8 percent thicker.

The researchers also measured the elasticity of the arteries in the arm, another measure of blood vessel health and heart disease risk.
They also observed that brachial artery flow-mediated dilation was 15 percent lower in teenagers with the highest levels of cotinine.
And even measures of cholesterol indicated more harmful levels among the children with more tobacco smoke in their blood.

"Such findings again show that children should not be exposed to tobacco smoke at all. Even a little exposure to tobacco smoke may be injurious for blood vessels," Kallio added.
For example, in October, the U.S. Institute of Medicine found that indoor smoking prohibitions decreased the risk of heart attack even among nonsmokers by only lowering exposure to secondhand smoke.

World Health Organization said that secondhand smoke kills an approximately 46,000 Americans from heart disease every year.