Passive smoking 'harms heart'
11/20/2007 7:38:00 AM
clone
65 Posts
This a nice article from BBC, I found it very interesting :)
Breathing in second-hand smoke for just 30 minutes can temporarily damage your heart, scientists have found.
Researchers at Osaka City University
Medical School in Osaka, Japan found passive smoking for half an hour
dramatically affected the circulation of blood within the hearts of
non-smokers.
Other studies have shown the risk of
death from coronary heart disease is increased among non-smokers who
are exposed to environmental smoke, by as much as 23%.
Anti-smoking campaigners in the UK are now calling for passive smoking in the workplace to be better controlled.
The researchers compared the hearts of 30 Japanese men, half of whom smoked and half of whom did not.
None had a history of high blood pressure, diabetes, or high cholesterol - risk factors for heart problems.
They were checked before and after exposure to second-hand smoke.
Measurements
Scientists, led by Dr Roy Otsuka, took a kind of ultrasound picture of the heart.
They were able to measure coronary
flow velocity reserve (CFVR) - which measures how well the endothelial
cells that line the cavities of the heart and the blood vessels work.
The cells help widen blood vessels, meaning an increase in blood flow and prevent clots and fatty deposits forming in arteries.
Passive smoking did not affect smokers, but non-smokers saw their CFVR abruptly reduced.
Other tests found non-smokers had
higher average CFVR levels than smokers - but after the passive smoking
exposure the rates did not differ.
The authors, writing in the Journal of
the American Medical Association, said: "This provides direct evidence
of a harmful effect of passive smoking on the coronary circulation in
non-smokers."
The reduction in endothelial function was not linked to changes in heart rate or blood pressure.
But the researchers said: "This change
may be one reason why passive smoking is a risk factor for cardiac
disease morbidity and mortality in non-smokers."
'Reduce exposure'
In an editorial accompanying the
research, Dr Stanton Glanz and Dr William Parmley of the University of
California, San Franciso, wrote: "The findings of the study of Otsuka
et al add to the evidence suggesting that everyone should be protected
from even short-term exposure to the toxins in second-hand smoke."
Clive Bates, director of Action on
Smoking and Health said: "It is as if the blood vessels in the heart
react suddenly to small doses of tobacco smoke - almost like an
allergic reaction or spasm. This can have the same impact on blood flow
as active smoking.
"Passive smoking has a serious impact on the heart and is a real killer, not just a nuisance or irritation."
ASH and the British Heart Foundation
are calling on the government to push forward the Code of Practice on
passive smoking in the workplace, as promised in its 1998 tobacco White
Paper
Professor Sir Charles George, medical
director for the BHF, said the government must play a more pro-active
role in developing policy that will influence companies, the
hospitality industry and those responsible for managing public places,
to provide "genuine smoke free environments".
"Until then, people will continue to
have little control over the risk to their heart health by having to
spend time in 'smokey' atmospheres."
