Contact with secondhand smoke in childhood increases subsequent COPD risk

How does passive smoking affect children in later life??

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a disease that unfortunately affects more and more people around the world. Researchers now found that the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is massively increased in adults when raised as a child by smoking parents.

The scientists of the American Cancer Society found in their current study that childhood passive smoking increases the risk that affected individuals as adults develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The physicians published the results of their study in the English language journal "American Journal of Preventive Medicine".

As children grow up with smoking parents, this increases their risk of having chronic obstructive pulmonary disease later in life, even if they were non-smokers all their lives. (Image: bilderzwerg / fotolia.com)

Passive smoking in childhood can lead to death in adulthood

Adult smokers are at an increased risk of dying from severe lung disease if they have grown up with smoking parents. Childhood passive smoking is likely responsible for seven deaths per 100,000 non-smoking adults annually, according to the authors of the study.

70,900 people participated in the study

70,900 participants were examined for the study. The subjects were composed of non-smoking women and men. The findings suggest that parents should quit smoking in order to protect their children from lung cancer and other diseases.

Living with smokers has a negative impact on health

Of course it also had a negative impact if the participants lived with a smoker during adulthood. The health consequences influenced the probability of developing certain diseases. Smoking for ten or more hours a week increases the risk of ischemic heart disease death by 27 percent, stroke by 23 percent and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by 42 percent compared to people who did not live with smokers.

The effect of passive smoking goes far beyond childhood

Subjects in the study were interviewed about their exposure to smoke throughout their lives, and their health was monitored over the next 22 years. The results showed that passive smoking has a lasting effect beyond childhood, explain the experts. The best way to protect children is when parents just quit smoking. However, it is not easy for many people to quit smoking. Therefore, it must be ensured that all those concerned, especially smoking parents of small children and smoking pregnant women, receive the help they need to stop smoking.

Passive smoking can cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Children whose parents smoke are known to be at increased risk for asthma and poor lung development. The study shows that the effects of childhood smoke exposure persist into adulthood, which can lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. While focusing on existing mortality risks, researchers also emphasized that passive smoking can increase chronic illness and dependence on health care later in life.

Smoke exposure from second hand must be reduced

This is the first study to identify an association between childhood exposure to secondhand smoke and death from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in middle age and beyond, explains study author Dr. Ryan Diver of the American Cancer Society. The results provide further evidence that second-hand smoke exposure should be lifelong-reduced, the expert continued. (As)