The American Heart Association (AHA) has compiled its yearly review of significant scientific advances in the fight against conditions related to cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death worldwide. One of the highlighted studies was authored by Docent Andrew Agbaje at the University of Eastern Finland, establishing persistent smoking from childhood as an independent risk factor for progressively worsening cardiac damage.
Ten overarching themes were highlighted among this year’s remarkable research strides, one of which was “The tragedy of childhood tobacco use”.
Referring to the study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), AHA stated in its press release that “Research using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children birth cohort followed more than 1,900 children in England from ages 10 through 24 years. The analysis found that persistent smoking from childhood was linked to a 33% to 52% greater chance of premature structural and functional cardiac injury, after controlling for other risk factors. The study highlights the importance of preventing smoking as well as its early consequences in youth.
Tobacco smoking from childhood through young adulthood was linked to increased cardiac mass from age 17 through 24 years. Changes in the heart’s size or weight are often associated with conditions that negatively impact the heart’s function, the scientists noted.
They also reported that, among those who smoked, the prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy — thickening of the heart’s left pumping chamber — increased from 2.8% at age 17 to 7.5% at age 24. Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction prevalence increased from 10.4% at 17 years to 16.9% at age 24. Smoking prevalence became more common with age, starting with 0.3% at age 10, 1.6% at age 13, 13.6% at age 15, 24% at age 17 and 26.4% by age 24. Sixty percent of those who started smoking at age 10 through 17 continued smoking at age 24.”
“The fight to keep youths away from tobacco smoking and its cardiac consequences appears to be weakening since an increasing number of adolescents are recreationally vaping, which makes them four times more likely to initiate tobacco smoking. I’m thankful to the AHA for highlighting this significant challenge,” says the study author Andrew Agbaje, a physician and an associate professor (docent) of Clinical Epidemiology and Child Health at the University of Eastern Finland.
American Heart Association Press Release
Link to the article:
Agbaje AO. Incidental and Progressive Tobacco Smoking in Childhood and Subsequent Risk of Premature Cardiac Damage. Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), 2024 Dec 11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2024.09.1229
For further information, please contact:
Andrew Agbaje, MD, MPH, PhD, FACC, FESC, FAHA, FNYAM, Cert. Clinical Research (Harvard), Professor (associate) of Clinical Epidemiology and Child Health, Principal Investigator (urFIT-child). Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, School of Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland. [email protected], +358 46 896 5633
Honorary Research Fellow – Children's Health and Exercise Research Centre, Public Health and Sports Sciences Department, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK. [email protected]
https://uefconnect.uef.fi/en/person/andrew.agbaje/
Webpage: urFIT-CHILD Research group
