Skip Navigation



IJE Advance Access published online on April 17, 2007
International Journal of Epidemiology, doi:10.1093/ije/dym031
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrowOA All Versions of this Article:
36/4/834    most recent
dym031v2
dym031v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Felber Dietrich, D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Felber Dietrich, D.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2007; all rights reserved.
The online version of this article has been published under an open access model. Users are entitled to use, reproduce, disseminate, or display the open access version of this article for non-commercial purposes provided that: the original authorship is properly and fully attributed; the Journal and Oxford University Press are attributed as the original place of publication with the correct citation details given; if an article is subsequently reproduced or disseminated not in its entirety but only in part or as a derivative work this must be clearly indicated. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association.

Effects of passive smoking on heart rate variability, heart rate and blood pressure: an observational study§

Denise Felber Dietrich1,*,{ddagger}, Joel Schartz2,9,{ddagger}, Christian Schindler1, Jean-Michel Gaspoz3, Jean-Claude Barthélémy4, Jean-Marie Tschopp5, Frédéric Roche4, Arnold von Eckardstein6, Otto Brändli7, Philippe Leuenberger8, Diane R Gold9, Ursula Ackermann-Liebrich1 and SAPALDIA-team{dagger}

1Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Basel, Switzerland.
2Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA.
3Division of Primary Care Medicine, University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland.
4Laboratoire de Physiologie Clinique et de l’Exercice, Université Jean Monnet, Saint-Etienne, France.
5Centre Valaisan de Pneumologie, Montana, Switzerland.
6Institute for Clinical Chemistry, University Hospital Zürich, Switzerland.
7Zürcher Höhenklinik, Wald, Switzerland.
8Service of Pulmonology, University Hospital Lausanne, Switzerland.
9Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.

* Corresponding author. Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, Steinengraben 49, 4051 Basel, Switzerland. E-mail: denise.felber{at}unibas.ch


  Abstract

Background Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) has been shown to increase the risk for cardiovascular diseases and death, and autonomic dysfunction (specifically, reduced heart rate variability (HRV)) is a predictor of increased cardiac risk. This study tests the hypothesis that ETS exposure reduces HRV in the general population and discusses possible pathways.

Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted between 2001 and 2003 and is part of the SAPALDIA (Swiss Cohort Study on Air Pollution and Lung Diseases in Adults) study. The analysis included 1218 randomly selected non-smokers aged 50 and above who participated in 24-h electrocardiogram recordings. Other examinations included an interview, investigating health status (especially respiratory and cardiovascular health and health relevant behaviours and exposure to ETS) and measurements of blood pressure, body height and weight.

Results Subjects exposed to ETS at home or at work for more than 2 h/day had a difference of –15% in total power (95%CI: –26 to –3%), low frequency power (–28 to –1%), low/high frequency ratio (–26 to –3%) and –18% (–29 to –4%) in ultralow frequency power of HRV compared with subjects not exposed to ETS at home or work. We also found a 2.7% (–0.01 to 5.34%) higher heart rate during the recording in exposed subjects.

Conclusions Exposure to ETS at home and work is associated with lower HRV and with higher heart rate in an ageing population. Our findings suggest that exposure to ETS increases cardiac risk through disturbances in the autonomic nervous system.

Keywords Tobacco smoke pollution, heart rate variability, autonomic nervous system, heart rate, blood pressure

§The work was performed at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Basel, Switzerland.

{ddagger}Equal contributions.

{dagger}SAPALDIA Team Study directorate: T Rochat (p), U Ackermann-Liebrich (e), JM Gaspoz (c), P Leuenberger (p), LJS Liu (exp), NM Probst Hensch (e/g), C Schindler (s). Scientific team: JC Barthélémy (c), W Berger (g), R Bettschart (p), A Bircher (a), O Brändli (p), M Brutsche (p), L Burdet (p), M Frey (p), MW Gerbase (p), D Gold (e/c/p), W Karrer (p), R Keller (p), B Knöpfli (p), N Künzli (e/exp), U Neu (exp), L Nicod (p), M Pons (p), E Russi (p), P Schmid-Grendelmeyer (a), J Schwartz (e), P Straehl (exp), JM Tschopp (p), A von Eckardstein (cc), JP Zellweger (p), E Zemp Stutz (e)>/>(a) allergology, (c) cardiology, (cc) clinical chemistry, (e) epidemiology, (exp) exposure, (g) genetic and molecular biology, (m) meteorology, (p) pneumology, (s) statistics

Accepted 8 February 2007


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 BMJHome page
D. J Llewellyn, I. A Lang, K. M Langa, F. Naughton, and F. E Matthews
Exposure to secondhand smoke and cognitive impairment in non-smokers: national cross sectional study with cotinine measurement
BMJ, February 12, 2009; 338(feb12_2): b462 - b462.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol.Home page
C.-Y. Chen, D. Chow, N. Chiamvimonvat, K. A. Glatter, N. Li, Y. He, K. E. Pinkerton, and A. C. Bonham
Short-term secondhand smoke exposure decreases heart rate variability and increases arrhythmia susceptibility in mice
Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, August 1, 2008; 295(2): H632 - H639.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.