Smoking in front of kids ‘increases their risk of heart disease’

A new study has indicated that children exposed to their parents' smoking are at a much greater risk of contracting heart disease when they reach adulthood.

Researchers tracked participants in the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study, which included information on childhood exposure to parental smoking in 1980 and 1983. They also collected carotid ultrasound data in adulthood in 2001 and 2007, as well as tracking levels of cotinine, a biomarker of passive smoke exposure.

The percentage of children with non-detectable cotinine levels was highest among households where neither parent smoked and lowest in cases where both parents smoked.

Meanwhile, the risk of developing carotid plaque in adulthood was almost twice as high in children exposed to one or two parental smokers.

Dr Costan Magnussen, study lead author and senior research fellow at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research at the University of Tasmania, said: "Although we cannot confirm that children with a detectable blood cotinine in our study was a result of passive smoke exposure directly from their parents, we know that a child's primary source of passive smoke exposure occurs at home."

Findings such as these are indicative of the reasoning behind the government's recent decision to ban smoking in cars carrying children.