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Parents' Smoking Can Increase Children's Blood Pressure
Filed under: In The News, Research Reveals: Big Kids, Health
Secondhand smoke can cause high blood pressure in young kids. Credit: Getty
Forget about lung cancer causing harm in the distant future. Your smoking may hurt your child before he hits grade school.
A new study shows breathing tobacco smoke can increase blood pressure in children as young as 4.
Researchers in Germany looked at the blood pressure of more than 4,000 kindergarten students who were, on average, 5.7 years old, according to an article published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
They found that children who had a parent who smoked were 21 percent more likely to have a systolic blood pressure -- the top number, which measures the maximum pressure in the arteries -- in the highest 15 percent, the report says.
That held true even after they adjusted for other risk factors, such as birth weight, body mass index and hypertension in the parents, according to the study.
The correlation between parental smoking and high blood pressure was less evident in the diastolic pressure -- the bottom number of a reading, which measures the lowest amount of pressure that occurs in the arteries -- the report says.
More fathers smoked than mothers, but a mother's smoking habit had a larger impact than a father's, probably because more of their smoking was done at home, the authors postulate.
The study's results suggest that promoting smoke-free homes may protect cardiovascular health in children as well as adults, the report notes.
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ReaderComments (Page 2 of 2)
1-11-2011 @ 1:56AM
pgoul9 said...Glen you ARE Retarded!
1-10-2011 @ 11:59PM
mcgowann said...I hope they included the child's weight in the study since obesity also increases blood pressure too.
Reply
1-11-2011 @ 12:21AM
sadie said...Here's the thing about smoing (I am a nutritionist and health practitioner). Yes, it does have a lot of carcinogens (cancer causing chemicals). And the main thing is that it depletes the body of nutrients. And THIS is where the rubber meets the road in terms of health. So if you smoke, make sure you get a lot of antioxidants in your diet (or supplements) especially magnesium and zinc and vitamin C. Magnesium is linked to heart health so you can see where all these things like blood pressure might be related to a magnesium deficiency caused by smoking, right? So if you do smoke and don't want to stop, just make sure you replete your body with the nutrients smoking depletes it of.
Reply
1-11-2011 @ 12:56AM
R-U-INSANE said...Well said Glen! Happy to see an American who is brave enough to write such jargon to show you are actually part of the group you write about. Obviously you do not comprehend what the commentors are saying. Do a little reading and come back when your IQ reaches a minimum -20. http://www.joejackson.com/smokingissue.html
Reply
1-11-2011 @ 12:59AM
R-U-INSANE said...Great comment Sadie. I actually copied it for my own future reference. Thanks for sharing that information. Knew about the excercise, but was unsure of the exact vitamins I should be concentrating on taking.
Reply
1-11-2011 @ 1:28AM
Gary Wilkes said...Modern research is fueled by lots of grant money. They get "findings" that are popular with the general attitude of academia. So, second hand smoke kills - even if the stats don't prove that. Meaning, the couldn't prove a cancer connection, so now they are trying the blood pressure connection. It;s the same across the boards. Don't have enough grant money for autism? Broaden the definition. Now it's an epidemic. Call it a spectrum or a syndrome. Then try to fish around for another grant that allows you to double dip and use a bunch of unused data from your first grant. Then write a book, get tenure and retire with a beach house in Rhode Island. It's a great life if you don't mind the carnage you leave in your wake and don't have any scruples about who got fleeced to pay your rent.
Reply
1-11-2011 @ 1:45AM
SmokingKills said...You smokers are in such denial. Smoking kills or at best really makes your final years agonizing. For you to smoke around your children is disgusting. Go on a cruise sometime and you'll find all the smokers from our parents' generation dragging around oxygen tanks. They are so hooked they continue to smoke in between breaths from the tank. It's pathetic. If you want you and your children to spend your retirement years like that, continue to smoke.
Reply
1-11-2011 @ 5:55AM
nightsky5695@aol.com said...Well said SmokingKills; my wife works where they sell medical equipment, and almost all the oxygen tanks, concentrators and portable oxygen generators are leased/rented to smokers and former smokers. Having watched my dear late Mom die from emphysema from her years of smoking and seeing the agony she went through just to breath, let alone the pain from the lung cancer that developed, it was really hard on all of us, for she knew and admitted the doctor had told her to quit and lessen the chances of this happening years prior; but, like many others her age, who started smoking before the dangers of smoking were well known, she got addicted in her teens and while she cut down to less than ten a day, over the years, that was enough to cause the horrific suffering she went through the last six months she lived. To see you Mom, Dad or anyone you love die such a slow painful death and realize that it could have most likely been prevented by not smoking, its enough to make you turn your head in disgust seeing so many people continuing to smoke and so many young people starting the habit. I've seen an actual autopsy on a smoker and I'll spare you the gross details but suffice to say, had you seen what was left of his lungs and bronchial tubes, etc., you'd throw those cigarettes/cigars/pipes down and never want another one. I know its hard to quit once you're addicted to those foul smelling cancer sticks, but if you won't quit for yourself, please do so for those who love you, want you around and doesn't want to see you suffer immensely like my late Mom did. To see your Mom ( or anyone for that matter ) lay there in bed struggling to breath while on oxygen and crying because of the pain and agony smoking caused them, and having to hear them tell you over and over they want to die the pain and lack of breath is causing them, its enough to make any rational human being plead with others to quit smoking; if not for yourself, do it for those who love you so they won't have to see and hear you go through what my loved one went through. I know they'll be many people cutting these truly spoken comments down, but there are too many people dying in agony every day because of the effects of smoking and breathing in the deadly smoke. Even if you don't believe smoking is a slow form of suicide, think of the money you can save by quitting. Sincerely, one of many who do care. M Savage, Lumberton, NC