Exposure to Tobacco Smoke in Childhood Home Associated with Early Emphysema in Adulthood..

December 28, 2009 - Children regularly exposed to tobacco smoke at home were more likely to develop early emphysema in adulthood. This finding by researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health suggests that the lungs may not recover completely from the effects of early-life exposures to tobacco smoke (environmental tobacco smoke, ETS, passive smoking, involuntary smoking. second hand smoke, SHS, sidestream smoke).

PAPER: Association of Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure in Childhood With Early Emphysema in Adulthood Among Nonsmokers The MESA-Lung Study, Gina S. Lovasi, Ana V. Diez Roux, Eric A. Hoffman, Steven M. Kawut, David R. Jacobs, Jr and R. Graham Barr, American Journal of Epidemiology 2010 171(1):54-62, ABSTRACT..

This population-based research is the first to examine the association of childhood ETS with early emphysema by CT scan in nonsmokers. Approximately half of the participants in this large multiethnic cohort had at least one regular cigarette smoker in their childhood home. Participants with more childhood ETS exposure had more emphysema-like lung pixels; an average of 20% of scan pixels were emphysema-like for those who lived with two or more smokers as a child, compared with 18% for those who lived with one regular smoker, or 17% for those who said that they did not live with a regular inside smoker as a

To read more - Mailman School of Public Health press release..