Passive Smoking: Long Term Effects

Passive smoking may not directly cause certainPassive Smoking and other Cancers
diseases related to smoking, but it gives you a chanceConventional studies tend to focus on finding the health
of developing anything smoking-related, at a highereffects of ETS on the respiratory system. Newer
rate. Studies have shown and confirmed an increasedstudies have found associations between passive
risk in the following:smoking and cervical, bladder, nasal-sinus, and brain
In infancy and children:o birth defectso sudden infantcancer.
death syndrome (SIDS)o low birthweighto illnesses inAmong active smokers, there is recorded a risk of
childreno middle ear infectiono learning difficultyocancer to:o the renal pelvis (part of the ureter that
behavior problems (i.e. depression, anxiety andreceives urine from the kidney),o possibly the renal
immaturity)o allergieso asthma (induction &adenocarcinoma (the glands of the kidney),o parts of
aggravation)o bronchitis (induction & aggravation)othe mouth and throat such as the lip, oropharynx (the
pneumonia (induction & aggravation)oback of the mouth), larynx (voice box), and
Meningococcal infections in childreno Cancers andhypopharynx (area below the pharynx or throat),o the
leukaemia in childrenesophageal (tube from the pharynx to the stomach)o
In adults:o heart diseaseo strokeo lung cancero nasalstomach, liver and pancreas.
cancero spontaneous abortion (miscarriage)o asthmaPassive Smoking and Heart Disease
exacerbation in adultso cystic fibrosis (exacerbation)oIn the early 1990s, studies by Glantz and Parmley
decreased lung functiono cervical cancero infectionsoestimated that the third leading preventable cause of
ear infectionso chronic obstructive pulmonary diseaseodeath in the United States was heart disease. The first
bronchitiso allergies and death of childreno aggravationtwo were active smoking and alcohol abuse. It was
of asthma, allergies, and other conditionsalso found out that non-smokers living with smokers
Passive Smoking and Lung Cancerhad an increased risk of heart disease of around 30%.
Non-smokers have a twenty-five percent increasedAn examination of a large sample in the United States
risk of lung cancer when exposed to passive smokingalso showed an elevated heart disease risk of around
in the home. In a press release by the World Health20%. Knowing how pervasive heart disease is among
Organization (WHO) on March 9, 1998, it said that thenon-smokers in the United States, a 20% additional risk
increased risk of lung cancer among non-smokingis very significant.
spouses of smokers was estimated at sixteenFrom then on, researches have proven conclusively
percent and in the workplace, an estimated increasedthat there is not just an increased risk of heart disease
risk of seventeen percent. In 2002, the Internationalbut that the risks are non-linear. The increased risks
Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the WHO,and effects on the heart are unlike that of lung cancer
a group of 29 experts from 12 countries, convened bywhere the risk is almost in proportion to the exposure.
the Monographs Programme. They reviewed all majorIn passive smoking, the risk of heart disease may be
published evidence related to tobacco smoking andhalf that of someone smoking 20 cigarettes a day
cancer.even though that person is only inhaling 1% of the
Their conclusion:smoke. New studies reveal that exposure to ETS also
These meta-analyses show that there is a statisticallycauses platelet aggregation, a condition where the
significant and consistent association between lungblood starts to thicken, and a narrowing of arteries and
cancer risk in spouses of smokers and exposure toblood flow reduction when endothelial cells dysfunction.
secondhand tobacco smoke from the spouse whoPassive smoking kills an estimated 53,000
smokes. The excess risk is of the order of 20% fornon-smokers per year. It is the 3rd leading cause of
women and 30% for men and remains after controllingpreventable death in the U.S.
for some potential sources of bias and confounding.