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Children exposed to passive smoking showed higher chance of developing wheeze, asthma
Burke H. Pediatrics. 2012;doi:10.1542/peds.2011-2196.
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Children whose parents smoke are at least 20% more likely to develop wheezing and asthma, according to study results published online.
Hannah Burke, BMBS, of the University of Nottingham’s City Hospital and the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies, United Kingdom, and colleagues used Embase, Medline and conference abstracts to identify 79 cohort studies that examined the effects of passive smoking on children at different stages: aged 2 years and younger; aged 3 to 4 years; and aged 5 to 18 years.
After a systematic review and meta-analysis were performed on the data, the researchers discovered that prenatal or postnatal exposure to passive smoke resulted in a 30% to 70% higher risk of incident wheezing and a 21% to 85% increase in incident asthma.
Incident wheezing was most strongly affected by postmaternal smoking in children aged 2 years and younger, whereas incident asthma was most indicated with prenatal maternal smoking in children of the same age. Passive smoking was found to increase wheeze in all but two studies reviewed. Burke and colleagues said passive smoke exposure had a weaker effect on the incidence of asthma than on wheeze.
Results of the study highlight the importance of limiting children’s exposure to passive smoking to prevent asthma, the researchers concluded.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.