Is Your Partner A Smoker?

Is your partner a smoker? If yes, then you might be at higher risk of having a stroke as compared to the people whose partners are non smokers, according to a new US study.

The researchers from the Harvard University revealed that living with a smoker increases the stroke risk by 42% in people who had never smoked as compared to those married to a non smoker.

People who had quit smoking but are married to a person who still puffs are at a 72% increased risk of a stroke.

The scientists analyzed the records of 16,225 people in the age group of 50 and above and were followed for an average of 9 years. The study found that being married to a person who has quit smoking was not associated with any increase in risk compared to being married to someone who had never smoked.

The team of researchers took the data from the National Health and Retirement Study, a National Institute on Aging sponsored survey of U.S. adults nationwide.

Many studies conducted earlier pointed towards the dangers of stroke to smokers, but there are fewer studies which have explored the risk from secondhand smoking. Lead author of study, Maria Glymour, said there is accumulating evidence about the number of health problems linked to second hand smoke.

Maria Glymour of Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and Columbia University in New York said, "These findings indicate that spousal smoking increases stroke risk among nonsmokers and former smokers.”

“The health benefits of quitting smoking likely extend beyond individual smokers to affect their spouses, potentially multiplying the benefits of smoking cessation, " Glymour added.

The researchers in this study looked at the effect of second hand smoke on partners of smokers and involved cigarette smoke only.

The findings will appear in the Sept. 2008 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Latest evidences showed that exposure to cigarette smoke for 'half an hour' is enough for changes to occur in the arteries of the non-smokers, which increase cardiacdefine risk -- the trials were discussed at XVI World Congress of Cardiologydefine which was held in Buenos Aires from May 18 to 21, 2008.

Approximately 53,000 non smokers die each year as a result of secondhand smoking in US alone, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association (AMA).

Twenty one million, or 35 percent of American children resides in homes where residents or visitors smoke in the home on a regular basis, according to American lung Association.

Secondhand smoke:

Second hand smoke (SHS) is also known as passive smoke or 'environmental tobacco smoke' (ETS). The exposure to second hand smoke causes coronary diseases, lung cancerdefine and irritation of the eyes and nose in adults. While in children it causes Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS or cot death), bronchitis, pneumonia and other lung/airways infections, low birth weight (pregnant women when exposed to passive smoke), lower level of lung function during childhood, middle ear disease and wheeze illnesses in early childhood.

SHS is also associated with a number of other diseases and conditions including other cancers, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonarydefine disease (COPD), childhood asthma, adult asthma and other breathing problems and premature deliveries of babies.