Secondhand smoke mania began in 1993 with the release of EPA's risk assessment claiming secondhand smoke caused 3,000 lung cancer deaths annually. But this (cooked-up) statistic was limited to adults and did not include children. As flaky as EPA's risk assessment was concerning secondhand smoke and lung cancer, it was even flakier when it came to kids health claims--lots of studies relying on obviously biased data collection and subjective analysis.
But the public health establishment hasn't given up on exploiting kids for their political purposes. And now, Harvard researchers claim secondhand smoke reduces levels of HDL cholesterol in kids which may increase their risk for atherosclerosis. (HDL is considered a protective cholesterol because it helps remove harmful fat from the blood, thereby reducing the risk of future heart disease. The higher the HDL levels, the better the protection.)
Unfortunately, the new study is a little short of convincing. The researchers studied 161 children referred to the lipid program at Children's Hospital in Boston. They reported the children exposed to secondhand smoke had HDL cholesterol levels 10 percent lower than the children not exposed. BUT:
- The children in the study had low levels of HDL cholesterol to start with. Normal HDL levels in children range from 54 to 57 milligrams/deciliter (mg/dL). These kids averaged about 40 mg/dL. That's why they were admitted to the program in the first place.Can you really generalize about all children by studying a few unusual children?
- Some of the children may, in fact, have been smokers (and smokers reportedly have lower levels of HDL cholesterol). Subjects under 13 years of age were asked (with their parents in the room) whether they smoked. Subjects over 13 years old were asked about smoking with their parents out of the room. But I'm not sure how many children will accurately report on their smoking--regardless of who's in the room.
- The exposure data is suspect. The researchers asked parents to describe the number of smokers in the household, the number of packs per day smoked by each smoker, and the number of hours per week smokers were in the household with the subject child. From these data, the researchers estimated how much secondhand smoke each child was exposed to. Unfortunately, the researchers failed to ask a key question: how much smoking occurred in the presence of the child?
This research is disheartening. These kids need to be treated for their medical condition. Their low HDL cholesterol levels puts them at increased risk of atherosclerosis-- regardless of exposure to secondhand smoke. Maybe the American Heart Association (one of the funders of this study) should consider spending its resources on research for a treatment, not more junk science.
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