Youngsters who smoked or who regularly inhaled second-hand smoke have higher chances of suffering from metabolic syndrome, a condition that leads to obesity and enhances the risk of cardiac ailments and diabetes, a study by New York’s University of Rochester has found.
“This is the first study to link this syndrome, which most people associate with obesity, to secondhand smoke. All things equal, you are almost five times more likely to develop the metabolic syndrome if you are exposed to secondhand smoke. Active smoking increases the risk to at least six times that of a non-exposed individual. And the effects occur at low levels of exposure,” said Dr Michael Weitzman, lead author of the study.
The researchers studied details of 2,273 youngsters between the ages of 12 and 19 years. They found that six per cent of these had metabolic syndrome and those who were subjected to constant exposure to tobacco smoke were more likely to have this condition.
Cotinine tests, which test the byproduct of the breakdown of nicotine, conducted on these youngsters showed that about 8.7 per cent of smoker teens had developed the syndrome as against 5.4 per cent of second-hand smokers and 1.2 per cent of non-smokers who were not exposed to tobacco smoke at all. A whopping 23.6 per cent of overweight teenagers who smoked were found to have metabolic syndrome.
“The 30 per cent or more of children growing up in households with a smoker are at vastly increased risk of morbidity and mortality,” Weitzman said, adding, “The bottom line to me is: As we gear up to take on this epidemic of obesity, we cannot abandon protecting our children from secondhand smoke and smoking.”
A syndrome that leads to high levels of abdominal fat, metabolic syndrome leads to high blood pressure, increased blood fats called triglycerides, insulin resistance and low good cholesterol levels.
To counter the problem, authorities should consider banning smoking in places teeming with children and adolescents, Weitzman said, adding, “…what this says is that if we care about our children's health, especially in the face of the epidemic of obesity, we need to be far more stringent in getting the message out to parents and do all we can to reduce exposure to smoke in all settings.”
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids’ president Matthew L Meyers felt that the study’s findings reinforce that second-hand smoke is almost as hazardous as smoking. “It is particularly disturbing because it demonstrates that exposure to smoke as a child could well have long-term heart disease consequences. They (parents) should just not smoke in front of their kids, they should not smoke in the house at all,” he said.
The findings of the study have been published in
Circulation, a journal published by the American Heart Association. According to the association, around 16 per cent of American adolescents, including young children, are overweight. A fast growing phenomenon, obesity has tripled in the United States in the last 20 years.
