Signs of Secondhand Smoking

Smokers endanger the people around them every time they breathe out. woman smoking image by csaba fikker from Fotolia.com

Not every victim of cigarette smoking is a smoker. Exposure to secondhand smoke can be just as damaging to non-smokers. Common secondhand smoking victims include families and co-workers of smokers and people who work in places where people typically smoke, like bars, restaurants and casinos where smoking has not been banned indoors. In addition, residents of multi-unit enclosed buildings such as condominiums and apartments are at risk from smoking residents located in other apartments. According to the National Cancer Institute, secondhand smoke causes up to 65,000 deaths in the U.S. every year. Secondhand smoke victims are at risk of the same diseases and conditions as smokers.

Secondhand Smoking and Pregnancy

When a pregnant woman is exposed to secondhand smoking, the symptoms can affect both mother and baby. Women exposed to secondhand smoke are 91 percent more likely to develop heart disease and twice as likely to contract lung cancer. When a woman is carrying a baby, she has a higher rate of miscarriage and stillbirths. Her baby is more likely to be undersized and have respiratory and lung issues. Babies born to women exposed to secondhand smoke are also at greater risk of SIDS - sudden infant death syndrome.

Secondhand Smoking and Children

Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at increased risk of many respiratory illnesses including coughing, wheezing, excess phlegm, asthma, colds, bronchitis, and pneumonia. They are prone to middle ear and sinus infections and early tooth decay.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that secondhand smoke causes between 150,000 and 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections in infants and children under 18 months of age and between 7,500 and 15,000 hospitalizations as a result each year.

Secondhand Smoking and Lung Cancer

According to the EPA, secondhand smoke is responsible for an estimated 3,000 deaths from lung cancer in U.S. nonsmokers each year. There may not be early symptoms of lung cancer. By the time symptoms appear, the cancer is often extensive. Symptoms include persistent coughing, chest pains that worsen when coughing, deep breathing or laughing, hoarseness, shortness of breath or wheezing, significant weight loss and loss of appetite, bloody phlegm, and recurring lung infections.

References

• Susan Schoenmarklin, Tobacco Control Legal Consortium, Infiltration of Secondhand Smoke into Condominiums, Apartments and Other Multi-Unit Dwellings (2004).
• University of Minnesota: Secondhand Smoke Facts
• EPA: Health Effects of Exposure to Secondhand Smoke
• University of California, San Diego: Symptoms of Lung Cancer