Study finds secondhand smoke boosts boys’ blood pressure

A recent study at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment has found boys who are exposed to secondhand smoke tend to have higher blood pressure levels than other boys, placing them at increased risk of developing hypertension when they grow up. But the reverse was true for girls.

These findings support several previous studies suggesting that something about female gender may provide protection from harmful vascular changes due to secondhand smoke exposure. An important next step is to understand why