A study shows how harmful this bad habit is in the long term. It can impact the grandchildren of the people concerned.
We know that certain diseases can be transmitted by genes. But family heritage is not limited to biology. The environment in which we grow, and even the one in which our parents grew up, can have long -term effects on health. This is what Australian researchers wanted to verify through a study based on the data of the longitudinal study on the health of Tasmania (TAHS). In total, 8,022 children were followed for several decades.
Among the exams and tests carried out, their breathing was measured at different ages (13, 18, 43, 50 and 53 years) thanks to a test called Spirometry. In parallel, their parents fulfilled detailed questionnaires on their respiratory health and tobacco exhibitions. In 2010, parents still alive was again questioned to find out if one of their parents smoked when they were children. In total, more than 5,000 of them responded, including more than 2,000 fathers. The final analysis is based on 890 father-child duos.
The results, published in 2025 in the scientific journal Thorax (BMJ), are clear: when a father had been exposed to cigarette smoke during his childhood, he had more risk of presenting a lower pulmonary function in adulthood, and his children too. The observation was even more marked when the latter had themselves grew up in a smoky environment. In other words, tobacco smoke leaves an imprint which is transmitted from one generation to another.
“”These results suggest that smoking can negatively affect pulmonary function not only in smokers, but also in their children and grandchildren … Fathers exposed to tobacco smoke during prepuberté can further reduce the risk for future generations by avoiding smoking in the presence of their children“, explain the researchers in a press release. If the study remains observational and does not allow us to definitively conclude a cause and effect relationship, it highlights a disturbing phenomenon: the effects of tobacco do not stop at the smoking person, they can have repercussions on several generations.
