Ras, Tammy2026-01-122026-01-122025Ras, T.C., 2025. Editorial commentary: Early exposure, Lifelong damage: Evidence of cardiac damage from childhood smoking. Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tcm.2025.10.010https://hdl.handle.net/10566/21650In this issue of Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine, the review article by Corsi and Agbaje provides up-to-date evidence of the early insults of childhood smoking on the growing heart. The study focuses specifically on the long-term effects of both direct smoking and second-hand smoke exposure on cardiac structure and function. In addition, it addresses a critical public health concern as the prevalence of smoking in childhood and adolescents is becoming a substantial public health concern, where the prevalence has been shown to increase with age, with the majority (60 %) of children continuing to smoke into their early to late adulthood. Adolescents born to smoking mothers are also more likely to initiate smoking as adolescent smoking is associatedenChildhood smokingCardiovascular healthSecond-hand smoke exposureAdolescent smokingCardiac structureArticle