Secondhand Smoke- ΠΑΘΗΤΙΚΟ ΚΑΠΝΙΣΜΑ

Smoking While Pregnant Could Harm Child's Breathing

 -- Children born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy are apt to have breathing issues in childhood and beyond, a new study has found.
The finding comes from the analysis of data on more than 2,000 U.S. children, ages 6 to 11. Nearly 10 percent of the children -- those who had asthma and those who didn't -- had reduced lung function.
The researchers reported a weak link between the children's current exposure to secondhand smoke and airflow obstruction. However, among children with asthma, those whose mother smoked during pregnancy were 2.5 times more likely to have obstructed breathing.
The study was published in the March issue of the journal Chest.
The findings point to a mother's "smoking in pregnancy as the period of secondhand exposure that is more strongly associated with worse lung function in asthmatic children," said the study's lead researcher, Dr. Stacey-Ann Whittaker Brown. She's with the pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine division at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.
"Maternal smoking in pregnancy may set children with asthma on a trajectory of poor lung function in later childhood, and other studies suggest this effect may be lifelong," Whittaker Brown said in a journal news release.
She said few studies have "analyzed the individual contribution of secondhand smoke exposure during pregnancy or current, ongoing secondhand smoke exposure on the lung function of children. Unfortunately, many children are exposed to both."
Whittaker Brown's team only found an association between smoke exposure during pregnancy and a child's lung function. She said additional studies into this relationship are needed.
"As we learn more about improving asthma outcomes in children, it is important to find out not only what environmental exposures are implicated in poor lung function, but also when those exposures are most harmful," Whittaker Brown said.
Source : HealthDay

E-Cig Ads May Prompt Teens to Take Up Tobacco Too

American teens and young adults who are receptive to ads for electronic cigarettes are much more likely to start smoking tobacco cigarettes, a new study finds.A nationwide analysis found that 12- to 24-year-olds who had never used tobacco products had high rates of receptivity -- meaning they recalled and/or liked -- for tobacco product ads.They were most receptive to ads for e-cigarettes, followed by ads for cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and cigars. Receptivity increased with age, peaking at 69 percent among 18- to 21-year-olds.Those who were receptive to ads for e-cigarettes, cigarettes and cigars were more likely to try those respective products within a year, the study found.The researchers also uncovered a startling trend among 12- to 21-year-olds who had never smoked. Those who were receptive to e-cigarette ads were 60 percent more likely to try cigarettes within a year, the study found.The study was published March 26 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics."There is a growing body of evidence that adolescents who start with an e-cigarette may transition to cigarettes," study lead author John Pierce said.He is a retired professor of cancer prevention at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Cancer Center."This study provides the first evidence that e-cigarette advertising is one of the risk factors for those who are underage to become cigarette smokers," he said in a university news release.

 

 Source : HealthDay