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Secondhand Smoke Impairs Learning in Children

Posted on: Tuesday, 25 January 2005, 15:00 CST

THE QUESTION: Smoke from other people's cigarettes can cause health problems in children. Might it also affect their cognitive abilities?

THIS STUDY involved 4,399 young people, 6 to 16 years old, who did not smoke. They were given standardized tests of reading, math and memory skills, and blood tests measured their levels of cotinine, which is produced when nicotine breaks down in the body. Children with the highest cotinine levels had reading scores about eight points lower than those with the lowest readings (87 vs. 95, on a 100-point scale). Math scores varied from 96 for those with low levels of cotinine to 89 for those with high levels. Short-term memory was not affected.

WHO MAY BE AFFECTED BY THESE FINDINGS? Young people exposed to secondhand smoke. While more than 40 percent of American children live with someone who smokes, 84 percent of the study participants had measurable cotinine in their blood.

CAVEATS: The mechanism by which secondhand smoke may affect cognitive ability remains unclear, and the level at which smoke begins to have an effect was not determined. The intelligence of the children's parents was not taken into consideration. The study was not randomized.

BOTTOM LINE: Parents may want to increase efforts to shield their children from secondhand smoke.

FIND THIS STUDY: January issue of Environmental Health Perspectives; available online at ehponline.org.

LEARN MORE ABOUT the health effects of secondhand smoke at tobaccofreekids.org (click "Research and Facts") and lungusa.org.

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The hazards of red meat

THE QUESTION: Does long-term consumption of red meat affect the risk of colorectal cancer?

THIS STUDY involved 148,610 adults who provided information on food they had eaten over a 10-year span. During the next 10 years, colon cancer occurred in 1,197 participants and rectal cancer in 470. Those who reported having eaten the most red meat were 43 percent more likely to develop rectal cancer than those who ate the least (89 cases vs. 65). People who ate the most processed meat (salted, smoked or preserved with nitrites or nitrates) had a 50 percent higher risk of developing colon cancer than those who ate the least (79 cases vs. 56).

WHO MAY BE AFFECTED BY THESE FINDINGS? People who regularly eat meat. The study defined prolonged high consumption as at least three ounces daily for men, two ounces for women, for 10 years.

CAVEATS: Participants estimated their meat consumption. Cooking methods and variations in preservatives were not considered. The reasons for the correlation between cancer and meat consumption were not determined. The study was not randomized. All authors worked for the American Cancer Society or the National Cancer Institute.

BOTTOM LINE: People who eat a lot of meat may want to focus more on plant-based foods.

FIND THIS STUDY: Jan. 12 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association; abstract available online at jama.com.

LEARN MORE ABOUT colorectal cancer at cancer.org and cancer.gov.

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A lower risk of heart attack

THE QUESTION: Although used to lower cholesterol, statins also can reduce the levels of a protein in the blood known as CRP (C- reactive protein). Does lowering CRP levels also reduce the chances of having a heart attack?

THIS STUDY randomly assigned 3,745 people who had been hospitalized recently with a heart attack or chest pain to take daily doses of a statin - either Pravachol (pravastatin) or Lipitor (atorvastatin) - or a placebo. Participants were mostly men and averaged 58 years old. After about two years, there had been fewer repeat heart attacks or deaths among people with the lowest CRP levels than among those with higher levels, regardless of their cholesterol reading. CRP levels below 2 milligrams per liter correlated with a heart attack/death rate of 2.4 per 100 people when low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or "bad" cholesterol was below 70 milligrams per deciliter, and a rate of 3.2 per 100 people when LDL was 70 or higher. The heart attack/death rate per 100 people for CRP levels above 2 milligrams was 3.1 for lower LDL and 4.6 for higher LDL. CRP levels were unchanged for those who took the placebo.

WHO MAY BE AFFECTED BY THESE FINDINGS? People with severe heart disease.

CAVEATS: The precise relationship between CRP and heart disease remains unclear. Study participants had severe heart disease; similar results may not occur in others. The study was funded in part by Bristol-Myers Squibb, which makes Pravachol. The lead author invented a patented blood test for CRP; he and five other authors have received fees from drug companies, including Pfizer, which makes Lipitor.

BOTTOM LINE: People who have had a heart attack or have recurring angina may want to ask a cardiologist about lowering their CRP level.

FIND THIS STUDY: Jan. 6 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine; abstract available online at nejm.org.

LEARN MORE ABOUT heart disease and risk factors at americanheart.org and mayoclinic.com.

Source: Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.

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