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One More Way Smoking Kills
Tuesday, August 2, 2005; washingtonpost.com
Exposure to cigarette smoke raises teenagers' risk of metabolic
syndrome, a disorder associated with excess belly fat that increases
chances of heart disease, stroke and diabetes, according to a study.
Researchers
said it is the first study to establish such a link in teenagers.
"The bottom
line to me is: As we gear up to take on this epidemic of obesity, we
cannot abandon protecting our children from secondhand smoke and
smoking," said lead author Dr. Michael Weitzman, executive director
of the
American Academy of Pediatrics Center for Child Health Research.
For the study, metabolic syndrome was defined as having at least
three of five characteristics: a big waist, high blood pressure,
high levels of blood fats
called triglycerides, low levels of good cholesterol and evidence
of insulin resistance, in which the body cannot efficiently use
insulin.
In the study,
published yesterday in the American Heart Association online journal
Circulation, researchers found that 6 percent of 12- to 19-year-olds
had metabolic syndrome and that prevalence increased with exposure
to tobacco smoke.
The study
found that 1 percent of those unexposed to smoke developed the
syndrome, 5 percent of those exposed to secondhand smoke had the
disorder and 9 percent of active smokers had it. Looking at teens
who were overweight
or at risk for being overweight, the effect was even more marked,
with 20 percent of those exposed to secondhand smoke having the
syndrome and 24 percent of smokers having it.
"What this
shows is that the percentages of kids who are at risk is vastly
higher if they're overweight and they're exposed to secondhand
smoke, down to very low levels," Weitzman said.
-- Associated Press
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