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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