Non-smokers at risk if living with smokers
Posted on: Thursday, 12 February 2009, 13:37 CST
Non-smokers or those who have quit smoking but who live with someone who smokes continue to be at risk from second-hand smoke, British researchers said.
Researchers at University College London and St. George's, University of London measured recent exposure to tobacco smoke in non-smoking middle-aged men by measuring levels of cotinine -- a compound carried in the blood -- at points 20 years apart.
A blood cotinine level more than 0.7 nanograms per milliliter is associated with a 40 percent increase in the risk of a heart attack and other studies have suggested that even a level of 0.2ng/mL may increase the risk, the researchers said.
The researchers found that while in 1978-80, 73 percent of men had a cotinine level more than 0.7ng/mL, by 1998-2000 that proportion had fallen to 17 percent.
However, despite the number of non-smoking men at risk having fallen, half of those who still had a high cotinine level -- more than 0.7 ng/ml -- in 1998-2000 lived with a partner who smoked. Non-smoking men who had a partner who smoked had average cotinine levels of 1.39ng/mL, almost twice the level associated with an increased risk of a heart attack.
Their cotinine levels were nearly eight times higher than the cotinine levels of men whose partner didn't smoke, the researchers said.
Source: United Press International
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User Comments (1)
| 1. |
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