Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Pediatrics, Smoking, UCSF / 23.09.2019
Parental Smoking Linked to Atrial Fibrillation in Offspring
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Gregory M Marcus, MD, MAS
Professor of Medicine in Residence
Endowed Professor in Atrial Fibrillation Research
University of California, San Francisco
Associate Chief of Cardiology for Research, UCSF Health
University of California, San Francisco
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Smoking remains the most common preventable cause of death and disability. We previously found evidence that tobacco smoke exposure in the young may lead to atrial fibrillation, the most common heart rhythm disturbance, later in life.
Here we leveraged the multi-generational nature of the Framingham Heart Study to demonstrate that parental smoking was a risk factor for offspring atrial fibrillation. At least some of this relationship was explained by a greater propensity to smoke in offspring of smoking parents. These findings demonstrate a potentially new harmful effect of smoking pertinent to the most vulnerable population, our children. It also demonstrates how parental behaviors can have meaningful adverse consequences to their children decades later.
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