--- title: If Either of Your Parents Smoked, Go and Get Your Heart Checked Out description: People who had one or two parental smokers have an almost two times (1.7 times) greater risk of developing carotid plaque in adulthood canonical: https://time.com/3755612/passive-smoking-parents-children-heart-health/ author: David Stout article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-24T07:40:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T05:23:08.672Z article:section: Health og:title: Did Either of Your Parents Smoke? og:description: Then go get your heart checked. og:url: https://time.com/3755612/passive-smoking-parents-children-heart-health/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a69a1d8f26880e3/698784e83c1639302945264b/cig-smoke.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: 450770777 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Did Either of Your Parents Smoke? twitter:description: Then go get your heart checked. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a69a1d8f26880e3/698784e83c1639302945264b/cig-smoke.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # If Either of Your Parents Smoked, Go and Get Your Heart Checked Out > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [David Stout](https://time.com/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Mar 24, 2015 7:40 AM UTC  Studio Shot of cigarette butts in ashtrey Studio Shot of cigarette butts in ashtreyGetty Images by [David Stout](https://time.com/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Mar 24, 2015 7:40 AM UTC A study [published](http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/early/2015/03/12/CIRCULATIONAHA.114.013485) in the American Heart Association journal _Circulati_ suggests smoking in front of children may increase their chances of developing dangerous carotid plaque later in adulthood. For the study, researchers used data gathered on Finnish children between 1980 and 1983, and were able to identify which children grew up in smoking households by noting the amount of cotinine that had been found in their blood samples. (Exposure to smoke increases the presence of cotinine in the blood.) They then correlated this with examinations of the carotid artery conducted on those same — but now fully grown — individuals between 2001 and 2007. They concluded from this that participants who had one or two parental smokers had an almost two times (1.7 times) greater risk of developing carotid plaque in adulthood compared with participants whose parents did not smoke, regardless of other factors. The buildup of plaque can [lead](http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/carotid-artery-disease-causes-symptoms-tests-and-treatment) to the narrowing of the carotid arteries, which is linked to strokes. The study’s findings add to the mounting evidence that exposure to smoking from parents has lasting effects on children’s physical health later in life, [reports](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150323182502.htm) Science Daily. _Read next:_ [_9 Subtle Signs You Could Have a Heart Problem_](http://time.com/3722910/9-subtle-signs-heart-problem/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3755612/passive-smoking-parents-children-heart-health/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3755612/passive-smoking-parents-children-heart-health/"},"headline":"If Either of Your Parents Smoked, Go and Get Your Heart Checked Out","datePublished":"2015-03-24T07:40:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:23:08.672Z","description":"Lasting damage may have been done","url":"https://time.com/3755612/passive-smoking-parents-children-heart-health/","keywords":["Research","Children","Smoking","health"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a69a1d8f26880e3/698784e83c1639302945264b/cig-smoke.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Stout","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/david-stout/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a69a1d8f26880e3/698784e83c1639302945264b/cig-smoke.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"450770777","caption":"450770777","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3755612/passive-smoking-parents-children-heart-health/","name":"If Either of Your Parents Smoked, Go and Get Your Heart Checked Out"}}]}] ```