The influence of passive smoking on the cardiovascular system

Cardiovascular effects of tobacco smoke have been studied in passive smokers far less extensively than in active smokers. Under real-life conditions, passive smokers inhale approximately 0.02 to 0.01 of the amount of particulate matter taken up by active smokers. Their nicotine concentration in serum is within a range that is barely distinguishable from the background level. The increase in carboxyhemoglobin rarely exceeds 1%. In healthy subjects heavily exposed to tobacco smoke, no or only slightly acute effects on the cardiovascular system are found. Whether or not passive smoking is likely to aggravate symptoms in patients with advanced coronary heart disease has not yet been unequivocally established and requires further investigation. From a few studies on occupational groups exposed to carbon monoxide (CO) and from experiments with animals chronically treated with CO or nicotine, the conclusion can be drawn that neither CO nor nicotine is likely to play a role in the development and progression of coronary heart disease in those concentrations normally found in passive smokers.