Passive Smoking and Impaired Endothelium-Dependent Arterial Dilatation in Healthy Young Adults

Passive smoking, which includes exposure to both sidestream smoke from burning cigarettes and exhaled mainstream smoke, has been associated with increased respiratory symptoms in children 1 and excess deaths from lung cancer in adults. 2 However, the greatest morbidity and mortality related to passive smoking have been attributed to atherosclerotic heart disease in middle and old age; this factor may account for up to 20,000 deaths annually in nonsmokers in the United States alone. 3-6 Studies in laboratory animals have shown that passive smoking may increase atherosclerosis in cholesterol-fed rabbits 7 and in cockerels, 8,9 but few studies have assessed the effects of passive smoking . . .