Social Smoking Carries Heart-disease Risks

US study indicates that social smokers' carries the same high blood pressure and high cholesterol risk, identical to those who smoke every day.

Published in the American Journal of Health Promotion, the study is the first to look at blood pressure and cholesterol in social smokers, Xinhua news agency reported.

‘Smoking is a risk factor for unhealthy blood pressure and cholesterol and both are significant contributors to cardiovascular disease, the leading killer of men and women worldwide.’

Social smokers are defined as those who do not smoke cigarettes daily, but only during certain social situations.

Smoking is a risk factor for unhealthy blood pressure and cholesterol and both are significant contributors to cardiovascular disease, the leading killer of men and women worldwide.

While 17 percent of 39,555 people surveyed from February 2012 to February 2016 in the study called themselves current smokers and more than 10 percent said they were social smokers, meaning that they did not smoke every day, about 75 percent of these current and social smokers had high blood pressure and roughly 54 percent had high cholesterol.

In addition, social smokers in the study were more likely to be younger, between 21 and 40 years old, male and Hispanic.

"These are striking findings and they have such significance for clinical practice and for population health," said study senior author Bernadette Melnyk, dean of Ohio State University's College of Nursing.

Source: IANS