PASSIVE Smoking almost doubles the risk
of heart attack in women, says a
study published by the American Heart
Association. The findings provide
strong evidence in support of the
hotly-debated claim that secondhand
smoke poses a major health risk. The
study suggests that there are as many as
60,000 deaths each year in the us due to
passive smoking.
In the largest study ever conducted
on the issue, researchers from the
Harvard Medical School monitored the
health of 32,000 nurses for 10 years.
They were placed under three different
categories: no exposure to secondhand
smoke, occasional exposure and regular
exposure. The study found that the relative risks of coronary heart disease for
those claiming regular exposure to
secondhand smoke was 1.91
times more than that of women
who were not exposed to such
smoke. Women claiming occasional exposure were 1.58 times
more at risk of suffering heart
attack than those not exposed.
Earlier studies had suggested
that regular exposure to passive
smoking increases the risk of
lung cancer though the extent
of that risk has still not been
ascertained.
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