Health Impact of Secondhand Smoke

Secondhand smoke, also known as environmental tobacco smoke, is a complex mixture of gases and particles that includes smoke from the burning cigarette, cigar, or pipe tip (sidestream smoke) and exhaled mainstream smoke. Currently, more than 126 million nonsmoking Americans, including both children and adults, are exposed to secondhand smoke in their homes and workplaces everyday. Homes and workplaces are the primary locations where nonsmokers are exposed to secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke exposure also continues to occur in public places such as restaurants and bars and in private vehicles.Eliminating smoking in indoor spaces is the only way to fully protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke exposure. Separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating buildings cannot eliminate secondhand smoke exposure.

Effects of Secondhand Smoke on Different Age Groups

Infants/Children

1. Infants and young children are especially susceptible: their lungs are still developing and childhood exposure to secondhand smoke results in decreased lung function. Children who breathe secondhand smoke are more likely to suffer from cough, wheeze, phlegm and breathlessness.

2. In children, exposure to secondhand smoke exacerbates 400,000-1,000,000 cases of asthma in the United States. New evidence suggests that secondhand smoke is a risk factor for induction of new cases of asthma among children and adolescents.

3. The current Surgeon Generals Report states that there is no risk-free level of secondhand smoke exposure. Even brief exposures can be harmful to children.

4. In the U.S., 33 percent of middle school non-smoking children and 30 percent of high school non-smoking children are exposed to secondhand smoke in their own homes. Based on levels of cotinine (a biological marker of secondhand smoke exposure), an estimated 22 million children aged 3-11 and 18 million youth aged 12-19, were exposed to secondhand smoke in the U.S. in 2000.

5. Exposure to secondhand smoke causes 150,000 to 300,000 acute lower respiratory tract infections (pneumonia and bronchitis) annually in children 18 months and younger; these infections result in 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations each year.

6. Secondhand smoke exposure causes buildup of fluid in the middle ear, resulting in 790,000 physician office visits. Middle ear infections are the most common cause of childhood operations and of childhood hearing loss.

7. A California EPA study estimates that 46,000 (range is between 22,700 and 69,600) cardiovascular deaths, 3400 lung cancer deaths and 430 sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) deaths are annually associated with secondhand smoke exposure.

Pregnant Women

1. When a pregnant woman is exposed to secondhand smoke, the nicotine she ingests is passed on to her unborn baby.

2. Women who smoke or are exposed to secondhand smoke during pregnancy have a higher rate of miscarriges and stillbirths, have an increased risk of low birthweight infants, have children born with decreased lung function, and have children with greater risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

3. Smoking during pregnancy causes genetic damage in the developing fetus that can be detected at birth, but also that passive - or secondary - exposure causes just as much damage as active smoking, and it is the same kind of damage.

Adults/Elderly

1. Secondhand smoke exposure causes heart disease and lung cancer in nonsmoking adults.

2. Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work increase their heart disease risk by 25–30% and their lung cancer risk by 20–30%.

3. The California Environmental Protection Agency estimates that secondhand smoke exposure causes approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 22,700–69,600 heart disease deaths annually among adult nonsmokers in the United States.

4. Elderly people who live in smoky environments have worse emphysema and bronchitis, than those who live in smoke-free situations.

5. Nonsmoking individuals living with heavy smokers have four times the risk of heart attack compared with those who live in smoke-free environments.


Completed by Erin Fuller and Aubrey Zimmermann

References:

American Lung Association (2007) Secondhand Smoke Fact Sheet. http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=35422

American Cancer Society (2007) Secondhand Smoke. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_10_2X_Secondhand_Smoke-Clean_Indoor_Air.asp

Martin, T. (2007). Secondhand Smoke and Children. http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/secondhandsmoke/a/smokeandkids.htm