Environmental tobacco smoke and early atherosclerosis
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: Exposure to the tobacco smoke of others, otherwise known as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), has been clearly related to the development of heart attacks and strokes. Recently, persons exposed to ETS have been shown to have thicker walls of the artery in the neck (the carotid artery which carries blood to the brain). The thickness of the artery wall is a measure of early damage to the arteries which is thought to occur before the development of heart attacks and strokes. Persons exposed to ETS have also been shown to have lower levels of certain antioxidants (such as vitamin C) in their blood. Since it has been shown that persons with higher blood levels of antioxidants and those who take antioxidant supplements (such as vitamins C and E) are less likely to develop heart attacks and strokes, the decrease in blood levels of antioxidants that has been seen in persons exposed to ETS may partially explain why persons exposed to ETS are more likely to develop heart attacks and strokes and have thicker artery walls.
 
 
 
 
 
 This proposal is directly responsive to TRDRP research priorities by evaluating the impact of ETS on the health of individuals. Specifically, we will obtain ultrasounds of the neck arteries of individuals to obtain two measures of early damage to the artery: (1) we will measure the thickness of the artery wall, and (2) we will measure how "stiff' the artery wall is (that is, how much the artery expands and contracts; arteries which can expand and contract more are thought to be healthier arteries). We will compare these measures in persons exposed and not exposed to ETS in their daily lives. In addition, we will measure blood levels of antioxidants to determine if these are lower in persons exposed to ETS. If we see that persons exposed to ETS have thicker and/or stiffer artery walls, we will determine if taking vitamin E will reduce the thickness or stiffness in comparison to persons who take a vitamin E placebo. Because we are proposing to do this study within an existing clinical trial testing the effects of vitamin E versus placebo, we will be able to answer these questions at considerable savings.
 
 
 
 
 
 It has been estimated that about 35,000 to 40,000 deaths per year from heart disease are due to individual exposure to ETS. In addition, the majority of American adults are routinely exposed to ETS in the home or workplace. Thus, there is a clear public health burden of ETS related to heart disease and stroke. Our proposed work will quantify the relationship between ETS and measures of early damage to the artery (that is, thickness of the artery wall and stiffness). It will additionally determine to what extent lowering of blood antioxidants levels due to ETS contribute to early damage to the artery. This work will thus be of great importance in that the assessment of the impact of ETS on these direct measures of damage to the artery before a person suffers a heart attack or stroke will vastly increase our knowledge about how ETS increases the chance of an individual suffering such an event.