Healthy passive cigarette smokers have increased pulmonary alveolar permeability.

Question: Does passive smoking have a measurable effect on lung function in otherwise healthy subjects? There is current interest concerning passive smoking but no objective evidence showing that it has any impact on lung function.

Methods: The pulmonary clearance rate of (99m)Tc-DTPA was measured in 21 healthy volunteers after inhalation as a radio-aerosol and compared between healthy cigarette smokers, passive smokers and non-smokers. All volunteers had normal lung function.

Results: Clearance half-times in healthy passive smokers (n=5) were longer than in healthy smokers (n=6) but clearly shorter compared with healthy non-smokers (n=10) with respective mean values of 45.2 (SD 8.3), 24.3 (8.6) and 80.3 (20) min.

Conclusion: Passive smoking has a functional impact on the lung blood/gas barrier.