Cigarette smoking is widely spread among people of different ages, nationalities and socio-demographic groups. Its negative effects are evident in smokers and non-smokers alike.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the increased taxes in tobacco have had some positive effect, bringing down the number of smokers in 33 countries. While there are so many more smokers who apparently need to be educated more on the health consequences of smoking, even the health of blameless nonsmokers are put to risk.
Experts found that nonsmokers who are exposed to second-hand smoke (SHS) will most likely have an increased risk of stroke by 30 percent.
A team of researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina and the University of Alabama at Birmingham analyzed data gathered from a large group of participants, of whom some were exposed to SHS and experienced stroke as a result. Data was obtained from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS). The study was led by Angela M. Malek, PhD of the University of South Carolina's Department of Public Health Sciences. Findings were published online in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
"REGARDS provides a large, diverse group of people whom we have characterized very well to study this," said Leslie McClure, PhD, a Department of Biostatistics professor at Alabama and senior author of the study.
Out of the 22,000 participants, 23 percent reported of having been exposed to SHS in the previous year. From 2003 to 2012, 428 stroke incidents were reported. 352 patients experienced ischemic stroke, in which blood is unable to pass through to the brain due to clotting; 50 experienced hemorrhagic stroke, where bleeding occurs inside the brain tissue or around it; and lastly, 26 strokes of unknown subtype.
Other factors that may cause stroke were also considered such as sex, age, race and body mass index as well as lifestyle. The researchers found that a nonsmoker's exposure to SHS played a bigger role when it comes to the occurrence of stroke.
McClure added that REGARDS follows the participants prospectively for smoke. This enabled the researchers to establish the exposure to SHS before stroke occurred.
Although the link between SHS exposure and stroke has not been identified in the past, the researchers were not surprised to see that there is indeed an association between SHS exposure and stroke as well as other outcomes.
Each year in the US, 3,000 deaths are reported as a result of lung cancer caused by SHS exposure in nonsmokers. 80,000 people suffer from stroke which is responsible for one in every 19 deaths.
"Future research will need to explore potential exposure to additional environmental variables, such as ambient air pollutants in relation to stroke," urged Dr. Malek.
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