What Has Taught Almost Half A Century of Research on the Relationship Between Passive Smoking and Cardiovascular System?

Almost half a century of research on the relationship between exposure to secondhand smoke and damage of the cardiovascular system has achieved some key findings. Cigarette smoking, in both its active and passive exposure, is a toxicosis and, therefore, should be considered as a systemic disease with marked cardiovascular impairment. The cardiovascular damage is well defined and consists of a whole series of functional and pathological manifestation prevailingly to the myocardium, vascular endothelium, and artery vessels showing a progression of atherosclerotic lesions of the coronary arteries, aorta, carotid and cerebral circulation. The efforts are to eliminate or reduce the extent of the damage with the development of techniques deputed to control the absorption of toxic products of smoke, such as nicotine, carbon monoxide and carcinogens, and save the environment, although a great failure together with the anti-smoking campaigns has been observed. Therefore, the future of the exposed individuals looks like a very difficult solution on the possibility of limiting the cardiovascular damage by tobacco smoke, unless smoking is absolutely banned.