Passive smoking worsens asthmic children's health

Washington, May 2 (IANS) Children exposed to passive smoking continue to suffer in terms of health, says a new study.

Results showed that 53 percent of children exposed to passive smoking were likely to make three or more visits to a physician or emergency department due to wheezing in the past year; sleep disturbed by wheezing one or more nights per week and restricted activity due to wheezing.

"National asthma guidelines have advised avoidance of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS-passive smoking) for patients with asthma for decades, but it is unclear to what degree these recommendations are being followed..." said Lara J. Akinbami, medical officer, National Centre for Health Statistics, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, who led the study.

Researchers undertook this investigation after co-author Brian Kit conducted a study showing that 53 percent of children with asthma were exposed to smoke from cigarettes, cigars or pipes from 2005 to 2010, according to a National Centre statement.

Investigators analysed data from the 2003-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for 972 children aged six to 19 years who had been diagnosed with asthma and had reported having asthma at the time of the survey.

These findings were presented Tuesday at the Paediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Boston, US.