title: Exposure to parental smoking in childhood or adolescence is associated with increased carotid intima-media thickness in young adults: evidence from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study and the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Recent evidence suggests that the exposure of children to their parents' smoking adversely effects endothelial function in adulthood. We investigated whether the association was also present with carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) up to 25 years later.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study comprised participants from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (YFS, n = 2401) and the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health (CDAH, n = 1375) study. Exposure to parental smoking (none, one, or both) was assessed at baseline by questionnaire. B-mode ultrasound of the carotid artery determined IMT in adulthood. Linear regression on a pooled dataset accounting for the hierarchical data and potential confounders including age, sex, parental education, participant smoking, education, and adult cardiovascular risk factors was conducted. Carotid IMT in adulthood was greater in those exposed to both parents smoking than in those whose parents did not smoke [adjusted marginal means: 0.647 mm ± 0.022 (mean ± SE) vs. 0.632 mm ± 0.021, P = 0.004]. Having both parents smoke was associated with vascular age 3.3 years greater at follow-up than having neither parent smoke. The effect was independent of participant smoking at baseline and follow-up and other confounders and was uniform across categories of age, sex, adult smoking status, and cohort.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results show the pervasive effect of exposure to parental smoking on children's vascular health up to 25 years later. There must be continued efforts to reduce smoking among adults to protect young people and to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease across the population.
authors.affiliation: Menzies Research Institute Tasmania, University of Tasmania, Medical Science 2, Medical Science Precinct, 17 Liverpool St, Hobart TAS 7000, Australia seana.gall@utas.edu.au.
authors.forename: Seana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gall
authors.affiliation: Menzies Research Institute Tasmania, University of Tasmania, Medical Science 2, Medical Science Precinct, 17 Liverpool St, Hobart TAS 7000, Australia.
authors.forename: Quan Long
authors.initials: QL
authors.lastname: Huynh
authors.affiliation: Menzies Research Institute Tasmania, University of Tasmania, Medical Science 2, Medical Science Precinct, 17 Liverpool St, Hobart TAS 7000, Australia Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, Turku, Finland Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Turku, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland Department of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Costan G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Magnussen
authors.affiliation: Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, Turku, Finland Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Turku, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland Department of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Juonala
authors.affiliation: Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, Turku, Finland Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Turku, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland Department of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Jorma S A
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Viikari
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Physiology, University of Tampere, Tampere University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kähönen
authors.affiliation: Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Terence
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dwyer
authors.affiliation: Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, Turku, Finland Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Turku, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland Department of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Olli T
authors.initials: OT
authors.lastname: Raitakari
authors.affiliation: Menzies Research Institute Tasmania, University of Tasmania, Medical Science 2, Medical Science Precinct, 17 Liverpool St, Hobart TAS 7000, Australia.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Venn
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D059168:Carotid Intima-Media Thickness / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution
keywords: Cardiovascular diseases; Children; Epidemiology; Passive smoking; Risk factors