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Heart Disease
Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US. You may have heart disease without even knowing it. If you have a healthy heart, secondhand smoke damages your heart and vascular system. If you already have heart disease, secondhand smoke makes it worse. Even brief exposure is harmful.
The effect of breathing secondhand smoke on your heart and vascular system is immediate. The long-term effects can be devastating.
As soon as you breathe in secondhand smoke, your blood platelets become stickier and your coronary flow velocity decreases. Bad cholesterol levels begin to rise, and the lining of blood vessels begin to sustain damage. All these factors increase your risk of developing heart disease and having a heart attack.
Secondhand smoke is responsible for anywhere from 22,700 to 69,600 premature deaths from heart disease among non-smokers in the US each year.
Recent research indicates that eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke in public places will reduce heart attack hospitalizations by 41 percent over 3 years.
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Links
CDC Study on Heart Attacks
Highlights from the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on secondhand smoke and heart attacks.
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