Second hand smokers and heart disease risk
by: db714
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Word Count: 363
A new study found that secondhand smokers develop higher
signs and symptoms of heart disease, attacks and strokes, adding to the link
between "passive smoke" and heart disease. This study was published
in Journal of the American Heart Association and calculated the level of
cotinine in the blood of participants.
Dr. Andrea Venn from
in
is the lead author of this new study. Dr Andrea said “the study provides
additional proof to suggest low-level exposure to secondhand smoke has a
clinically important effect on susceptibility to cardiovascular disease”. According to the American Heart Association
(AHA) Cotinine is a chief pointer of nicotine intake and therefore exposure to
tobacco smoke.
The study also
checked if participants exposed to secondhand smoke at home, work or other
places had advanced levels of fibrinogen, homocysteine and C-reactive protein.
The study tested results from
third National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey which included around
7,599 adult people who had never smoked.
The result of this
survey is 18 percent of the participants had no noticeable levels of cotinine
while the remainder had high or low levels. It is found that participants of
the survey who had high levels of cotinine had lived with a smoker or worked in
place where there are smokers.
The highly levels of
fibrinogen and homocysteine convert into a 5 percent increased disease danger
though studies somewhere else have advised that other factors can increase the
disease danger from secondhand smoke by up to 30 percent.
Fibrinogen is a
protein and homocysteine an amino acid in the blood. Both are markers of
swelling and are also implicated in blood clotting.
Dr Venn said “even those who did not expose to smokers at
home or work had high or low levels of cotinine in their blood”. These people
might be exposed to smoke in public places like restaurants and bars or in
other people’s homes like friends which mean even those people who expose to
low levels of smoke are still in danger of heart disease.
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