Parent Smoking During Pregnancy Raises Kids' Heart Risks

Parent Smoking During Pregnancy Raises Kids' Heart Risks

By Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Nov. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Damage to the arteries of children of smokers can be detected in the early decades of their lives, a new Dutch study finds.

"Smoking in families is harmful for children, including their cardiovascular system, as was found in many other studies," said research leader Dr. Cuno S.P.M. Uiterwaal, an associate professor of clinical epidemiology at the University Medical Center in Utrecht. "This study adds that tobacco smoke exposure may have such effects already in very early life."

Uiterwaal and his colleagues reported the finding in the December issue of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology that they used ultrasound to measure the thickness of the walls of carotid arteries, the major blood vessels to the brain, in 732 young adults, average age 28. Records showed that 29% of the mothers and more than 60% of the fathers smoked during the pregnancies.

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