Smoking Raises Risk of Metabolic Syndrome in Teens

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Exposure to tobacco smoke -- either through active smoking or secondhand smoke -- increases the likelihood that adolescents will develop so-called metabolic syndrome, investigators report. The association is even stronger among teens who are overweight or at risk of being overweight.

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions such as high blood pressure and high blood levels of glucose that raise the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

Dr. Michael Weitzman, from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York, and his associates analyzed data from 2273 subjects 12 to 19 years of age who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1988 and 1994 (NHANES III).

Blood levels of cotinine, a breakdown product of nicotine, were used as a biomarker for exposure to tobacco smoke, with lower levels indicating passive smoke exposure and higher levels taken to mean active smoking.

Metabolic syndrome was defined as the presence of three or more of the following conditions: high triglyceride level, low HDL ("good") cholesterol level, abdominal obesity, high blood pressure or high blood glucose level.

Reporting in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation, the researchers found that, overall, metabolic syndrome was present in 1.2 percent of non-exposed teens, 5.4 percent of those exposed to passive smoking and 8.7 percent of those who were active smokers.

Among those considered to be overweight, corresponding risks were 23.8 percent, 32.3 percent and 40.4 percent.

"Considering that tobacco and obesity are individually the two leading causes of preventable death in the United States, these findings may have profound implications for the future health of the public," the researchers conclude.

SOURCE: Circulation, online August 1, 2005.