NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Children who are regularly exposed to tobacco smoke appear to be at increased risk for early emphysematous lung changes decades later, according to study results presented Tuesday at the international conference of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego, California.

This finding “suggests that a child’s lungs may not recover completely from early tobacco smoke exposure, even if they never smoke themselves. I was surprised that we could detect a difference so many years later,” lead researcher Dr. Gina Lovasi, from Columbia University, New York, told Reuters Health.

Although other studies have looked at the long-term effects of early tobacco smoke exposure, the present study “is the first to use CT scans from a large sample of relatively healthy adults to look for emphysema-like patterns and to link those with childhood tobacco smoke exposure,” she said.

The investigation involved 3964 adults, around 60 years of age, who were enrolled in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). The researchers focused on 1781 of the subjects who reported never smoking.

Childhood tobacco smoke exposure was assessed by asking the subjects if they had lived with a regular cigarette smoker who had smoked in their home.

The results showed that adults who had lived with a regular smoker as a child were more likely to have CT evidence of early emphysema than their peers without this history. By contrast, childhood tobacco smoke exposure did not significantly affect adult lung function, as assessed with spirometry.

“From other studies, we already know that tobacco smoke has a range of negative health effects for adults and children,” Dr. Lovasi said. “What our study adds is that damage done in childhood could persist for decades, or even get worse over time. Yet our study is still too preliminary to offer a clear message to the practicing clinician or the general public.”