title: Parental smoking and respiratory tract infections in children.
abstract: The adverse health consequences of exposing children to tobacco smoke have been well documented. Re-calculation of the data available from cohort and cross-sectional studies worldwide shows that between 500-2500 excess hospitalisations and between 1000 to 5000 excess diagnoses per 100 000 young children as result from respiratory infections can be directly attributed to parental smoking. Results of published meta-analyses support these figures, which are probably under-estimated because of the effects of non-differential misclassification bias. These excess infections are a source of preventable morbidity and have a high cost to the community. They also have important long-term consequences because children who have respiratory infections in early life are at an increased risk of developing asthma in later childhood. More effective strategies that prevent smoking in young people before they become parents have the potential to lead to reductions in these high rates of unnecessary morbidity in the next generation of children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, University of Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Peat
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Keena
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Harakeh
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marks
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D015897:Comorbidity; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D010290:Parents; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution