Secondhand Smoke Exposure Affects Girls More Than Boys
Smoking - is a practice in which a substance, most commonly tobacco and/or cannabis, is burned and the smoke is tasted or inhaled. This is primarily practised as a route of administration for recreational drug use, as combustion releases the active substances in drugs such as nicotine and makes them available for absorption through the lungs. It can also be done as a part of rituals, to induce trances and spiritual enlightenment.The most common method of smoking today is through cigarettes, primarily industrially manufactured but also hand-rolled from loose tobacco and rolling paper. Other smoking implements include pipes, cigars, bidis, hookahs, vaporizers and bongs. It has been suggested that smoking-related disease kills one half of all long term smokers but these diseases may also be contracted by non-smokers.
Main Category: Smoking / Quit Smoking
Article Date: 28 Mar 2012
The negative health effects of early-life exposure to secondhand smoke appear to impact girls more than boys - particularly those with early-life allergic sensitization, according to new research from the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine
Epidemiologists with UC's Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study (CCAAPS), funded by the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), found that children exposed to high levels of secondhand smoke who also had allergic sensitizations during early childhood (age 2) are at greater risk for decreased lung function at age 7 compared to children who had not developed allergic sensitizations by this age
Additionally, lung function among girls was six times worse than in boys who were exposed to similar levels of both secondhand smoke and allergen sensitization.
"Our study shows that the timing of allergic sensitization is crucial because children who are sensitized by age 2 are more likely to suffer the greatest lung deficits during childhood as a result of secondhand smoke exposure," explains Kelly Brunst, first author of the paper and doctoral candidate in UC's division of epidemiology and biostatistics. "This association was not observed at age 4 or 7, emphasizing the importance of this critical window for lung development."
The UC-based team's findings are published online ahead of print in the scientific journal Pediatric Allergy and Immunology.
This is the first study to explore the differential gender effects of secondhand smoke exposure using an internal biomarker for secondhand smoke - hair cotinine (product of nicotine metabolism) - while also accounting for the importance of timing and extent of allergic sensitization on lung function.
Previous studies have estimated that one in four children in the United States living in a home with at least one smoker have cotinine concentrations more than twice as high as those living with nonsmoking adults. Secondhand smoke exposure during childhood has also been associated with respiratory illness, decreased lung function and asthma development/exacerbation.
"Our results provide valuable information regarding the interwoven relationships between early-life exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke, allergic sensitization, gender and lung function," says Grace LeMasters, PhD, UC professor of environmental health and principal investigator of the CCAAPS.
"It's likely that the complex interaction between secondhand smoke and pulmonary function loss in boys and girls is ultimately dependent on the timing of exposure as well as the child's 'total load' in relationship to cumulative risk factors - exposures, allergic sensitization, asthma status, genetic susceptibility and sex hormones."
CCAAPS is a long term childhood study examining the effects of environmental exposures on respiratory health and allergy development. All infants in the study had at least one parent with known allergies and were followed from infancy until age 7.
For this study, researchers examined a population of 476 children in the Greater Cincinnati metropolitan area identified from birth to be at increased risk for allergies based on family history and proximity to major roads. Hair samples were collected at age 2 and 4 to measure average cotinine concentrations. At age 7, all children had lung function and asthma diagnosis testing. This information was then correlated with data about allergy sensitization collected through annual skin prick allergy testing, self-report questionnaires about allergy symptoms and the home/school environment.
Why Is Smoking Bad For You?
Smoking is responsible for several diseases, such as cancer, long-term (chronic) respiratory diseases, and heart disease, as well as premature death. Over 440,000 people in the USA and 100,000 in the UK die because of smoking each year. According the US CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), $92 billion are lost each year from lost productivity resulting from smoking-related deaths.Smoking causes cancer
90% of lung cancer patients developed their disease because of smoking. Lung cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer deaths in the world. Smokers also have a significantly higher risk of developing:According to Cancer Research UK, one person dis every 15 minutes in Great Britain from lung cancer.
Smoking also raises the risk of cancer recurrences (the cancer coming back).
Why does smoking raise cancer risk?
Scientists say there are over 4,000 compounds in cigarette smoke. A sizeable number of them are toxic - they are bad for us and damage our cells. Some of them cause cancer - they are carcinogenic.
Tobacco smoke consists mainly of:
Tobacco smoke consists mainly of:
*Nicotine - this is not carcinogenic. However, it is highly addictive. Smokers find it very hard to quit because they are hooked on the nicotine. Nicotine is an extremely fast-acting drug. It reaches the brain within 15 seconds of being inhaled. If cigarettes and other tobacco products had no nicotine, the number of people who smoke every day would drop drastically. Without nicotine, the tobacco industry would collapse.
Nicotine is used as a highly controlled insecticide. Exposure to sufficient amounts can lead to vomiting, seizures, depression of the CNS (central nervous system), and growth retardation. It can also undermine a fetus' proper development.
If there is enough carbon monoxide around you and you inhale it, you can go into a coma and die. Carbon monoxide decreases muscle and heart function, it causes fatigue, weakness, and dizziness. It is especially toxic for babies still in the womb, infants and indifividuals with heart or lung disease.
*Tar - consists of several cancer-causing chemicals. When a smoker inhales cigarette smoke, 70% of the tar remains in the lungs. Try the handkerchief test. Fill the mouth with smoke, don't inhale, and blow the smoke through the handkerchief. There will be a sticky, brown stain on the cloth. Do this again, but this time inhale and the blow the smoke through the cloth, there will only be a very faint light brown stain.
Smoking and heart/cardiovascular disease
Smoking causes an accumulation of fatty substances in the arteries, known as atherosclerosis, the main contributor to smoking-related deaths. Smoking is also a significant contributory factor in coronary heart disease risk. People with coronary heart disease are much more likely to have a heart attack.
Tobacco smoke raises the risk of coronary heart disease by itself. When combined with other risk factors, such as hypertension (high blood pressure), obesity, physical inactivity, or diabetes, the risk of serious, chronic illness and death is huge.
Smoking also worsens heart disease risk factors. It raises blood pressure, makes it harder to do exercise, makes the blood clot more easily than it should. People who have undergone bypass surgery and smoke have a higher risk of recurrent coronary heart disease.
According to the American Heart Association:
Tobacco smoke raises the risk of coronary heart disease by itself. When combined with other risk factors, such as hypertension (high blood pressure), obesity, physical inactivity, or diabetes, the risk of serious, chronic illness and death is huge.
Smoking also worsens heart disease risk factors. It raises blood pressure, makes it harder to do exercise, makes the blood clot more easily than it should. People who have undergone bypass surgery and smoke have a higher risk of recurrent coronary heart disease.
According to the American Heart Association:
"Cigarette smoking is the most important risk factor for young men and women. It produces a greater relative risk in persons under age 50 than in those over 50."
A female smoker who is also on the contraceptive pill has a considerably higher risk of developing coronary heart disease and stroke compared to women using oral contraceptives who don't smoke.
If you smoke your levels of HDL, also known as good cholesterol will drop.
If you have a history of heart disease and smoke, your risk of having such a disease yourself is extremely high.
A much higher percentage of regular smokers have strokes compared to other non-smokers of the same age. The cerebrovascular system is damaged when we inhale smoke regularly.
Those who smoke run a higher risk of developing aortic aneurysm and arterial disease.
