(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Parents: you may want to think twice before you light up in front of your little ones. A new study reveals children between the ages of 2 to 5 years absorb six times more nicotine than children 9 to 14 years old when exposed to parental smoking in their homes. The toddlers also had higher levels of markers for cardiovascular diseases in their blood.

Doctors and scientists have known for years that cardiovascular disease in adults starts and progresses silently during childhood. “This is the first study that looks at the response of a young child’s cardiovascular system to secondhand smoke,” lead author Judith Groner, M.D., pediatrician and ambulatory care physician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Research Institute in Columbus, Ohio, was quoted as saying.

The dramatic increase in the younger children manifested itself in increased markers of inflammation and vascular injury, signaling damage to the endothelium -- the inner lining of the vessel walls.
 

John Bauer, Ph.D., senior author the study and director of the Center for Cardiovascular Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Research Institute, noted that not only did the younger children have higher levels of nicotine, but they also had higher markers for cardiovascular disease in the blood. “The dose of smoke is greater in toddlers than adolescents who are able to move in and out of the home,” Dr. Bauer said. “Toddlers are like fish in a fishbowl. They are exposed at a higher dose and it appears that toddlers also are more susceptible to the cardiovascular effects of smoke.”

Dr. Groner noted the study was a snapshot in time and doesn’t give a long term picture of the effects of secondhand smoke on the developing cardiovascular system of children. “Further study is needed,” she said. “We’re not sure what happens to kids if they stay in a smoking environment or if they have multiple risk factors such as being overweight, or having high blood pressure. Until then, parents and others should not smoke in homes with children and should be especially attentive to this issue around toddlers.”


SOURCE: American Heart Association’s 48th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease, Epidemiology and Prevention 2008, Colorado Springs, Colo., March 11-15, 2008