Passive smoking and children's health

Passive smoking causes lasting damage to children's arteries, prematurely ageing their blood vessels by more than three years, say researchers.The damage - thickening of blood vessel walls - increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes in later life, they say in the European Heart Journal.

In their study of more than 2,000 children aged three to 18, the harm occurred if both parents smoked.
Experts say there is no "safe" level of exposure to second-hand smoke.This study goes a step further and shows it [passive smoking] can cause potentially irreversible damage to children's arteries increasing their risk of heart problems in later life”Doireann MaddockBritish Heart Foundation

The research, carried out in Finland and Australia, appears to reveal the physical effects of growing up in a smoke-filled home - although it is impossible to rule out other potentially contributory factors entirely.

Hidden damage

Ultrasound scans showed how children whose parents both smoked developed changes in the wall of a main artery that runs up the neck to the head.While the differences in carotid intima-media thickness were modest, they were significant and detectable some 20 years later when children had reached adulthood, say the investigators.

Study author Dr Seana Gall, from the University of Tasmania, said: "Our study shows that exposure to passive smoke in childhood causes a direct and irreversible damage to the structure of the arteries. "Parents, or even those thinking about becoming parents, should quit smoking. This will not only restore their own health but also protect the health of their children into the future."