Some smoking parents may make the mistake of smoking in front of their children, or take them to places where there are smokers. But what about the dangers that passive smoking can really cause to children? According to a study published by the American Cancer Society, children's exposure to cigarette smoke is linked to lung disease in adulthood.
The study
Over a 22-year period, researchers tracked more than 70,000 adults who have never smoked. At the beginning of the study, they were asked if they lived in a household with a smoker while they were children. Those who did it were 31% more likely to die from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Moreover, this is the first study that found a correlation between passive smoking and lung disease.
According to Ryan Diver, director of data analysis at the American Cancer Society and lead author of the study, the results showed that children exposed to second-hand smoke are more likely to have lung problems and to have more Asthma being adults.
Passive smoking is defined as the inhalation of the smoke from the lit cigarette and the smoke exhaled by the smokers. Moreover, no amount of second-hand smoke is safe, whether you are young, old, healthy or sick.
According to Geetha Raghuveer, pediatric cardiologist at the University of Missouri at the Kansas City Medical School, it has been proven that passive smoking is even more detrimental than smoking since most cigarettes have filters. Thus, passive smoking is without filter.
According to Ryan Diver, it is important to be aware of the effects of passive smoking that seem to last a long time. Everyone will have to reduce their exposure as much as possible.
For Michael Eriksen, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office on Smoking and Health, the most important finding of the study was that children's exposure to second-hand smoke increased the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This has never been said before, because most research on passive smoking has always focused on the immediate effects on children or adults.
The increase in mortality from chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases found in the study may represent approximately seven additional deaths per year per 100,000 participants. The study found slight increases in other health risks. According to Eriksen, the good news is that the study, while finding an increased risk of death from lung disease, has not found an association with cancer or heart disease.
A change in awareness
The study in question, moreover, focused on people born between the 1920s and 1930s. Eriksen thinks that the parents at that time did not think to endanger the health of their children, because it was the standard at the time.
Smoking habits have changed over the generations and cigarette consumption reached its peak in the 1960s and has since declined. Exposure to second-hand smoke has decreased in the United States since the 1980s, due to public health efforts to change the rules governing smoking in public places. In addition, parents are nowadays more aware that they should not smoke at home, and not smoke near their children.
According to Dr. Nick Hopkinson, medical advisor to the British Lung Foundation, passive smoking has a lasting impact far beyond childhood. It is therefore extremely important to ensure that parents of young children and pregnant women who smoke receive the help they need to stop smoking.
