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Secondhand smoke is dangerous.

While not exactly breaking news, there is now new proof that adds weight to the body of evidence indicating those exposed to other’s smoke are at increased risk for harm.

In a small study of 60 adults, led by Chengbo Wang, a magnetic resonance physicist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, use of a specialized MRI showed approximately one-third of the nonsmokers exposed to high levels of secondhand smoke had structural changes to their lungs similar to those seen in smokers.

Of the study participants, 45 had never smoked but were considered to have “high” exposure if they had lived with a smoker for at least 10 years … even if it was during childhood.

In a statement, Wang said, “It’s long been hypothesized that prolonged exposure to secondhand smoke may cause physical damage to the lungs, but previous methods of analyzing lung changes were not sensitive enough to detect it. To our knowledge, this is the first imaging study to find lung damage in non-smokers heavily exposed to secondhand smoke. We hope our work strengthens the efforts of legislators and policymakers to limit public exposure to secondhand smoke.”

Dr. Jeff Wright, medical director of the new Saint Thomas Lung Cancer and Thoracic Center in Nashville, said the research technique, which utilized long-time-scale, global helium-3 diffusion magnetic resonance imaging, provided insight that in the past would have only come by autopsy or through surgically biopsied lungs.

“It clearly links damage in nonsmokers with data that has previously been unavailable,” he said of the significance, adding that a number of previous studies have shown compromised pulmonary function in those exposed to secondhand smoke. However, he continued, those functional deficiencies are different than the physical damage viewed in this study.

This new information strengthens what researchers and physicians already know about the dangers of smoke to those who have never personally used tobacco products.

“For example,” Wright said, “secondhand smoke-related deaths from lung cancer are about 3,400 per year in the United States.”

He added that it’s estimated there are another 46,000 heart-related deaths also attributable to secondhand smoke plus documented increases in workplace absenteeism, pediatric hospitalization utilization rates and illness.

Wright said studies such as the one just conducted not only add to the general body of knowledge but also provide an educational tool to increase public awareness of the risks attached to secondhand smoke.

He, like many other healthcare providers in the state, was very excited about the implementation of the new public smoking ban.

It puts us on an equal footing with some of the other states that are very progressive in their medical care,” he said. “It’s a positive step forward in the public health arena because smoking has such a devastating effect.”



January 2008

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