Lab Report: Health, Science and Medicine

SECONDHAND SMOKE

Hypertension in Kids? Yes, if Parents Smoke

The health hazards of smoking are well known, and these dangers extend to nonsmokers exposed to the secondhand wisps of cigarette toxins as well. But researchers now report on a particularly worrisome problem--high blood pressure--emerging among a particularly worrisome population: children whose parents are smokers.

Compared with youngsters of nonsmoking parents, preschoolers exposed to secondhand smoke had a 21% greater chance of hypertension, defined as blood-pressure values in the top 15% for their age group. That's especially troubling, say experts, since high blood pressure in childhood can carry over into adulthood.

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PREGNANT WOMAN DIES OF H1N1 FLU; BABY IS IN CRITICAL CONDITION

The family mourning the loss of Mekisha Agee is urging more people, especially pregnant women, to get flu vaccinations.

The Westmoreland woman, who had just turned 25, died Monday from complications of H1N1. The baby she was carrying, Kayelyn Agee, was in critical but stable condition Thursday at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt. The baby weighed 4 pounds and 7 ounces.

"Mekisha just wasn't informed enough to get the flu shot," said Terry Martin, her stepfather. "She didn't realize how important getting it was, as a lot of people don't."

Although state and federal officials urge everyone over the age of 6 months to get vaccinated, pregnant women are among the groups especially at risk.

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