A recent research, carried out by a team of experts from the Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, has revealed that children who are continually and regularly exposed to tobacco smoke at homes are more at risk of developing early emphysema in adulthood, which hints that early life tobacco exposure could last on the lungs for decades together.

The aim of the study was the find out if there is any possible link between childhood ETS (Early exposure to tobacco smoke) and early emphysema.

For the sake of study, CT scans of non-smokers were studied, and almost 50% of the study subjects lived with at least one regular smoker during their childhood. Conclusions were then drawn and the study hypothesis was affirmed.

A much serious condition, emphysema is the "destruction of alveolar walls", the area where the body exchanges oxygen with carbon dioxide.

"Some known harmful effects of tobacco smoke are short term, and this new research suggests that effects of tobacco smoke on the lungs may also persist for decades", said the study's lead author Gina Lovasi.

Details of the study have been published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.