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 "We can't say that secondhand smoke definitely caused atrial
fibrillation" based on this type of study, said senior author Dr.
Gregory Marcus from the University of California, San Francisco. "We
do need to confirm these findings."
Atrial fibrillation causes the heart's upper and lower chambers to
stop working together, according to the U.S. Heart, Lung and Blood
Institute. The condition increases the risk of stroke, and can cause
chest pain and heart failure.
Cigarette smoking is linked to the development of atrial
fibrillation, but the link with secondhand smoke exposure was
unknown, the researchers write in the journal HeartRhythm.
Using data from 4,976 people taking part in an Internet-based study
on heart health, the researchers analyzed participants' exposure to
secondhand smoke and whether or not they had atrial fibrillation.
Overall, about 12 percent of participants reported having atrial
fibrillation. Those with the condition had an average age of about
62, compared to an average age of about 50 among those without
atrial fibrillation.
The researchers accounted for factors that may have affected
subjects' risks for atrial fibrillation, including age, sex, race,
other health conditions and smoking and alcohol use.
They found that people exposed to secondhand smoke in the womb or
during childhood were about 40 percent more likely to report atrial
fibrillation than those who weren't exposed.
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The risk was even higher among people who did not have other risk
factors for atrial fibrillation, the researchers write.
Dr. Cuno S.P.M. Uiterwaal of the University Medical Center Utrecht
in The Netherlands speculated in an email to Reuters Health that the
impact of secondhand smoke may be more obvious in people without
other more significant atrial fibrillation risk factors.
"Papers like these aim to draw attention to the possibility that
early-life secondhand smoke exposure may not only have short term
consequences, such as to the fetus, but also long-term hazards to
offspring," said Uiterwaal, who was not involved with the study.
Preventing second-hand smoke exposure in early development and life
may be one way to reduce the risk of atrial fibrillation later on,
the researchers say.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1jsVmcf HeartRhythm, online September 1, 2015.
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