Thursday, February 22, 2007

Even low levels of second-hand smoke cause heart risk

Even low-level indirect exposure to cigarette smoke is associated with a significant rise in heart disease risk in new research conducted by researchers from the U.K.'s University of Nottingham.

The study is the first to directly measure secondhand smoke exposure through levels of a nicotine byproduct in the blood. Previous studies have relied on participants' recall of exposure.

Compared with people in the study with no detectable exposures to nicotine, those with low- and high exposure levels also had significantly higher levels of two important markers of heart disease risk.

"These findings suggest that secondhand smoke exposure has a clinically important effect on susceptibility to heart disease, even at relatively low levels of exposure, and they highlight the importance of minimizing the public's exposure to secondhand smoke," researcher Andrea Venn, PhD, stated. Source.

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