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Children's exposure to parental smoking increased respiratory risks in adulthood

Childhood exposure to parental smoking significantly increased the risk for respiratory symptoms into young adult life, according to recent study results.

Researchers studied data from a long-term cohort of 1,655 Anglo-white households who enrolled in the Tucson Epidemiological Study of Airway Obstructive Disease (TASAOD) in 1972-1973. Participants were recruited to complete clinic visits and questionnaires at baseline and up to 12 follow-up surveys about every 2 years. Parents completed questionnaires for children until they were aged 15 years, and then children completed them.

Parents’ responses were used to determine children’s environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure. In up to five survey visits, skin prick tests for house-dust mix, Bermuda grass, tree mix, weed mix and Dematiaceae mold mix were conducted. Researchers used longitudinal variables produced by prospective data through childhood (aged younger than 15 years) and adulthood (age 18 years and older) for respiratory symptoms of cough, chronic cough and wheeze.

Four hundred twelve participants had enrolled in the initial survey during childhood, transitioned into adulthood and had data on parental ETS exposure during childhood. When compared with 205 participants who enrolled as children but did not have follow-up data available as adults, these participants were older (aged 8.3 years vs. 5.7 years), and more likely to be female (49% vs. 37.6%), to have nonsmoking parents and to have asthma (10.9% vs. 4.9%) at enrollment. Researchers said 55.6% of participants had been exposed to parental smoking, including 31.3% to maternal smoking and 46.7% to paternal smoking.

Increased risk for incident cough (RR=1.9; 95% CI, 1.03-3.31), incident chronic cough (RR=2.7; 95% CI, 1.41-5.26), persistent cough (RR=5.4; 95% CI, 2.47-11.73), persistent chronic cough (RR=3.4; 95% CI, 1.2-9.66) and persistent wheeze (RR=1.8; 95% CI, 1.07-3.03) were associated with parental ETS exposure in childhood.

“We found consistent effects of parental ETS exposure in childhood on the persistence of respiratory symptoms into adult life,” the researchers concluded.

Disclosure: See the study for a full list of relevant disclosures.