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Excerpts from: Smoking In Pregnancy Causes Many Child Asthma Cases

By Uni Sci Smoking In Pregnancy Causes Many Child Asthma Cases  [02/15/01]

                Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in the womb increased
                the rate of physician-diagnosed asthma in young persons while current ETS
                exposure was associated with wheezing but not with physician-diagnosed
                asthma.

                Researchers who studied 5,762 school-aged children residing in 12
                Southern California communities made this significant finding.

                Writing in the February issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and
                Critical Care Medicine, Frank D. Gilliland, M.D.,Ph.D., and two associates
                from the Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine,
                University of Southern California, Los Angeles, studied responses to a
                self-administered questionnaire completed by the parents of 4th, 7th, and
                10th grade students to ascertain which children either wheezed or had
                physician-diagnosed asthma.

                In the United States, an estimated 15 million children, accounting for more
                than 25 percent of the population in this age group, are currently exposed to
                household ETS and are at risk for adverse health effects from this
                exposure, according to the researchers.

                "A substantial body of evidence indicates that involuntary exposure to
                tobacco smoke adversely affects children's respiratory health," said Dr.
                Gilliland. "It can lead to decreased lung growth and increase the risk of
                respiratory infections, including wheezing and exacerbation of asthma."

                The 5,267 children who participated in the research were involved in the
                Children's Health Study, a 10-year longitudinal investigation of the effects of
                air pollution on children's respiratory health.

                The investigators used lifetime tobacco smoke exposure histories and
                parental reports of wheezing and physician-diagnosed asthma to examine
                the relationship of maternal smoking during pregnancy and childhood
                exposure to ETS to the development of wheezing or asthma.

                The majority of students were 10 years of age or younger, white, and from
                households with health insurance and high educational attainment.
                Exposure in the womb occurred in 18.8 percent of the children, with 39.5
                percent incurring some lifetime exposure to ETS.

                According to the article, the lifetime prevalence of wheezing among these
                children was 33.7 percent, with physician-diagnosed asthma being
                reported by 14.6 percent.

                Current ETS exposure was associated with an increased prevalence of a
                wider range of wheezing subcategories. This included wheezing with or
                without colds, attacks of wheezing with shortness of breath or nighttime
                awakening, wheezing with exercise, and wheeze requiring medication or
                emergency care.

                The prevalence of two or more household smokers was
                associated with all subcategories of wheezing.

                In remarking about the public health significance of their findings, the
                investigators estimated that the elimination of in utero exposure of fetuses
                to maternal smoking would prevent 5 to 15 percent of asthma cases in
                children.

                They said that to reduce the burden of chronic respiratory disease on
                children, physicians, partners, and relatives should encourage women of
                childbearing age to stop smoking.