Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and respiratory tract infections in pre-school children – a cross-sectional study in Poland

Abstract

Introduction and objective. Knowledge of the harmful influence of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) has a positive impact on changing social behaviours worldwide. In many homes smoking is totally prohibited; in some others, partial limitations of tobacco consumption have been introduced. Objective. To study the correlation between the adopted rules of tobacco use in homes of 3-year-olds, and the kind and frequency of acute respiratory system infections within a 6-month period of attending pre-schools. Materials and methods. The study was performed among children attending municipal pre-schools in Białystok, Poland. The data was collected by anonymous questionnaires completed by the parents of 302 children aged 3 years chosen randomly from 1,200 children attending 51 pre-schools. The exposure of children to tobacco smoke was measured by determining cotinine to creatinine ratio (CCR) in urine. Results. In the 150 families of children who were surveyed, 210 were smokers. Every day, the smokers consisted of fathers (37.3%) and mothers (23.6%). The 3-year-old children were divided into 3 groups according to smoking habits in their homes: 28.5% of the children under examination came from homes where tobacco smoking was forbidden (mean CCR-15.21ng/ mg, SD=11.86), 26.2% came from homes where tobacco was smoked in separate rooms (mean CCR-65.75 ng/ml, SD=81.51), 45.4% lived in homes where no rules connected with smoking had been established (mean CCR-61.75 ng/ml, SD= 70.29). During the analyzed period of 6 months, 85% of the children had at least 1 respiratory tract infection (60%-upper, 16.9%-lower, 16.5%-upper and lower, 7.1%-otitis media). Conclusions. The majority of the 3-year-old children who had lower respiratory tract infections required antibiotics and hospitalization. Living in a home where no tobacco rules were established may cause an increase of respiratory tract infections.

Association of low physical activity with higher respiratory tract infections frequency among pre-school children

“…Although numerous studies suggest that the frequency of URTIs in children may be influenced by factors like exposure to tobacco smoke, obesity, and/or sleep duration, 12,[42][43][44][45] the present study did not reveal such relationships. Environmental factors associated with an increased risk of infections, such as daycare attendance, growing up in a rural environment, having older siblings, and having pets 13 were also considered, but no correlation with symptom frequency was demonstrated.…”

“…8 Several factors have been held responsible for children's increased susceptibility to frequent respiratory infections. These can be divided into two groups: non-modifiable, such as (i) the function of local immune mechanisms, particularly nonspecific immunity in the respiratory system, 9 (ii) asthma, allergies, and atopy in the family, (iii) anatomical abnormalities such as craniofacial or airway abnormalities 2,6,8,10 and modifiable, like (i) exposure to tobacco smoke and air pollution, 11,12 (ii), presence in crowded places (kindergartens and nurseries). 13,14 Other rarely analyzed risk factors impacting RTI prevalence include exposure to livestock, including pets, and behavioral factors such as pacifier use and the amount and quality of physical activity (PA).…”

Maternal education, health profession and cigarette smoking are decisive factors for self-medication in children by parents

“…A possible explanation for this finding may be that mother smoker is more prone to depression and anxiety as shown in previous studies (25,26), and experiences greater psychological distress because of impaired child's health in comparison with mothers non-smokers, urging her to self-medicate her children. Also, children's exposure to passive smoking is related to obesity (27), wheeze and asthma (28), lower respiratory tract infections (29) and different allergic manifestations such as rhinitis and eczema (30). It is well-known that some of these conditions may be treated symptomatically and this may contribute to increased SMCP.…”

Assess the Performance against ETS and PM1 and Evaluate the Users’ Experiences of Comfort of Nasal Filters

“…Exposure to ETS among children, adolescents, and adults is associated with an increased risk of allergic rhinitis and eczema (Singh et al, 2016), increased risk of respiratory tract infection (Bielska et al, 2015), increased risk of asthma, infection, cancer, cardiovascular effects, and sleep difficulties (Treyster and Gitterman, 2011), and increased risk of hearing loss (Talaat et al, 2014).…”