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The European Respiratory Society’s International Congress in Amsterdam showed evidence of asthma being linked to smoking in previous generations. Asthma is the most common childhood disease and currently affects 8% of adults and 9.3% of children in the US according to the CDC. While that may not seem like a large percentage, the actual number of children affected is 6.8 million. That really opens your eyes to the issue. Originally, researchers thought that exposure to specific environmental changes were responsible but more and more evidence of smoking grandmothers are surfacing.
The first study took place in an entire population in Sweden from the grandmothers at the extra time of pregnancy. If the grandmother smoked, the asthma risk increased 10-22%. The results came to show that from 44,853 grandmothers tested, 66,271 grandchildren needed asthma medication.
We already know genes can be affected by things like tobacco and other things we are exposed to but what we didn’t see before was that these changes can be dormant for generations but still be passed down. In the US, researches thought that this could account for 98% of diseases inherited human diseases that are unaccounted for.
This could be a breakthrough in determining what exposures we face now can affect future generations. In my opinion, this is super important to our generation and future generations. While numbers of smokers has decreased significantly, asthma is still up there. Now that we know we could be affecting our future generations, we could really put an end to smoking and increase everyone's health.
This article is very interesting and brings up an interesting topic in how future generations can be affected by the things we do and are exposed to now. The article really caught my eye because I have asthma and my grandmother was actually a heavy smoker. It is crazy to think that my asthma could have been caused by my grandmothers exposure tobacco and the various other substances in cigarettes. I also find it interesting that the effect these substances have can be so significant that they can effect multiple generations of families.
ReplyDeleteQuite an interesting article, yet another reason why smoking can be detrimental to not only the smoker but to even that of their kin.
ReplyDeleteThat is crazy how one smoking can cause their future generations asthma. My grandmothers never smoked, however my grandfather has. I wonder if that can be related to why my siblings have asthma. I find it interesting how smoking can have such a long term effect.
ReplyDeleteThat is crazy how one smoking can cause their future generations asthma. My grandmothers never smoked, however my grandfather has. I wonder if that can be related to why my siblings have asthma. I find it interesting how smoking can have such a long term effect.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting article. There are not many people in my family with asthma and after reading this article, it could be suggested that the lack of asthma in my family is attributed to the lack of smokers in my family. Its very interesting that smoking and asthma could be linked back to past generations. If I were a smoker, I would not only be harming myself, but also my children and then even their children!
ReplyDeleteGreat Article