Passive smoking in children causes damage to their blood vessels that persist through to adulthood. If both parents smoke, the children’s blood vessels aged by an extra 3.3 years. These changes put them at risk of heart attacks and strokes later in life.
The research team, lead by Dr Seana Gall, used ultrasound to measure the thickness of the blood vessels in the neck of children. They then measured the thickness of their blood vessels 25 years later. The blood vessel thickness of children whose parents did not smoke were compared with those who either one or both parents smoked.
The research was conducted in Australia and Finland.
Read more at University of Tasmania