BACKGROUND: Although active smoking acutely increases arterial stiffness, the association between arterial stiffness and chronic exposure to environmental @entity286 smoke (ETS) has not been evaluated. We used baseline data from the @entity270 @entity731 Prevention Study to evaluate the association between ETS exposure and arterial stiffness among 227 healthy adult nonsmokers. METHODS: B-mode ultrasonograms of the common carotid artery were used to compute the carotid arterial wall stiffness index beta. Beta was compared by the number of sources and daily hours of ETS exposure. RESULTS: The carotid stiffness index beta was positively associated with age, body mass index (BMI), fasting @entity413 , and common carotid artery @entity121 ( @entity121 ). In the total sample, beta was not related to the number of ETS exposure sources. The carotid stiffness index beta increased with number of sources and daily hours of ETS in subjects with BMI > or =27.1 kg/m2 and @entity121 > or =0.707 mm. The association was not apparent in subjects with lower BMI or @entity121 (for number of ETS sources, interaction P values=0.006 and 0.01, respectively). For number of ETS sources, but not hours of exposure, positive associations were apparent among females (but not males) and among subjects > or =55 years old (but not younger subjects). CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that arterial stiffness is adversely associated with ETS in a dose-dependent manner among individuals with higher BMI and greater carotid artery @entity121 .

Environmental XXXX smoke and carotid arterial stiffness.

@entity286 :: ('4097', 'Species') :: ['tobacco'] @entity270 :: ('MESH:D014810', 'Chemical') :: ['Vitamin E'] @entity731 :: ('MESH:D050197', 'Disease') :: ['Atherosclerosis'] @entity121 :: ('MESH:D009135', 'Disease') :: ['IMT', 'intima-media thickness'] @entity413 :: ('MESH:D005947', 'Chemical') :: ['glucose']
@entity286 :: (4097,Species) :: ['tobacco']
