Quit Smoking for your Kids’ Hearts
WebMD.com talks about Smoking and Kids’ Hearts.
From the Article:
Even small amounts of exposure to secondhand smoke can negatively impact the cardiovascular health of children, new research confirms.
Kids exposed to tobacco smoke showed evidence of blood flow restriction in the study, with those exposed to the most smoke experiencing the greatest effect.
Researcher Katariina Kallio, MD, says it is increasingly evident that secondhand smoke exposure poses a significant health risk to children.
“This certainly suggests that there is no safe level of exposure,� she tells WebMD. “We don’t know what this means for their future, but studies in adults suggest these changes may not be totally reversible.�
Cardiovascular Impact
Kallio and colleagues from Finland’s University of Turku measured levels of the nicotine marker cotinine in the blood of children between the ages of 8 and 11 to determine their exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.
They assessed blood vessel health using an ultrasound testing method previously used to measure artery function in adults.
Of the 402 children enrolled in the study, 229 showed no evidence of exposure to secondhand smoke, while 134 showed evidence of low exposure and 39 showed evidence of high exposure.
Ultrasound testing revealed that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke negatively affected artery function and that the effect grew with increased exposure.
The study is published in the latest issue of the American Heart Association (AHA) publication Circulation.
“There is already a lot of evidence that secondhand smoke is harmful to children,� Kallio says. “Hopefully, parents who are still smoking around their children will stop.�
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Smoking, Adult Second hand smoke, kids hearts
Smoking, Adult Second hand smoke, kids hearts
June 14th, 2007 at 7:34 am
You know, this is actually true about your pets, too. For those with no kids but a beloved fluffykins, you are killing Mr. Spot some large number times as fast as you’re killing yourself.