title: Prenatal and postnatal environmental tobacco smoke exposure and children's health.
abstract: Children's exposure to tobacco constituents during fetal development and via environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure is perhaps the most ubiquitous and hazardous of children's environmental exposures. A large literature links both prenatal maternal smoking and children's ETS exposure to decreased lung growth and increased rates of respiratory tract infections, otitis media, and childhood asthma, with the severity of these problems increasing with increased exposure. Sudden infant death syndrome, behavioral problems, neurocognitive decrements, and increased rates of adolescent smoking also are associated with such exposures. Studies of each of these problems suggest independent effects of both pre- and postnatal exposure for each, with the respiratory risk associated with parental smoking seeming to be greatest during fetal development and the first several years of life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01655, USA. difranzj@ummhc.org
authors.forename: Joseph R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: DiFranza
authors.forename: C Andrew
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Aligne
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weitzman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001249:Asthma / Q000209:etiology; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007360:Intelligence / Q000187:drug effects; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000209:etiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000209:etiology*; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D013398:Sudden Infant Death / Q000209:etiology; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution