Differing risks from SHS.Research in the March 2007 issue of Chest reveals that black children may process secondhand smoke sec·ond·hand smoke n. Cigarette, cigar, or pipe smoke that is inhaled unintentionally by nonsmokers and may be injurious to their health if inhaled regularly over a long period. Also called passive smoke. differently than white children do. Black children in the study had blood serum Blood serum A component of blood. Mentioned in: Bites and Stings blood serum the residual fluid of blood after clotting has occurred. It is plasma after the fibrinogen has been removed. cotinine cotinine (kō´tinēn), n a substance that remains in body fluids after nicotine has been used. Presence of this chemical in body fluids is considered proof of recent nicotine use. concentrations that were 32% higher than those of the white children studied. In black children with asthma, hair cotinine levels were up to 4 times higher than in white children with asthma. This difference could help explain why blacks are more prone to tobacco-related health effects such as cancer, asthma, sudden infant death syndrome sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) or crib death, sudden, unexpected, and unexplained death of an apparently healthy infant under one year of age (usually between two weeks and eight months old). , and low birth weight, although the study authors state that more research is required to make definite associations. They add that these findings suggest there also could be differences in exposure or metabolism for other constituents of tobacco smoke, differences that might affect the development of disease. edited by Erin E. Dooley |
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