Secondhand Smoke and Children's Health

August 29, 2008

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Secondhand Smoke and Children's Health

by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P.
reviewed by Laura Jana, M.D., F.A.A.P.

If you're a parent who smokes cigarettes, cigars, or a pipe , you are not alone. Nearly half of children in the U.S. live with a smoker. You certainly know that smoking is dangerous to your health, and for one reason or another have not chosen to quit, or have tried and failed. Do you also know that if you smoke at home or in the car, the smoke you exhale can cause serious health problems for your children?

Since nobody is perfect, most parents I know feel guilty about something. Guilt almost never helps anything. But if you smoke, you really should be making every effort to eliminate your child's exposure to this dangerous substance. Here's why:

Secondhand smoke, also called environmental tobacco smoke, hangs in the air for hours and days. The smoke particles are too small to see, but even if the air seems perfectly clear, it isn't. Even if you only smoke in one room, the smoke particles quickly filter all throughout the house.

Cigarette smoke contains more than 400 chemicals. Many of these chemicals irritate the nose, sinuses, middle ear, and lungs. Many cause cancer in smokers. This is what your child and anyone else coming into your home breathes in.

Secondhand smoke greatly increases the risk that your child will develop asthma. If he has asthma, it increases the risk that he will have to go to the emergency room or be hospitalized.

Secondhand smoke also increases the risk of infections anywhere from your child's nose down to his lungs: sinus infections, ear infections (including "glue ear"), pneumonia, and bronchitis. The likelihood of needing surgery to have tubes put in the ears goes way up.

There may be an increased risk of cancer, including leukemia, in children exposed to secondhand smoke.

The more the exposure, the greater the risks are. Cutting down on the exposure does cut down the risk, but the only safe level of exposure is none at all.

If you are pregnant, your smoking also may be harming your unborn baby. Babies exposed to cigarette smoke before birth are, as a group, smaller. According to some researchers, they are also more likely to have learning and behavior problems later in life.

As soon as you reduce your child's exposure to secondhand smoke, the danger of it harming your child begins to go down. It is never to late!

What to do
If, after looking over the ways secondhand smoke can harm your children, you decide it's time to stop smoking, help is at hand. You can consult with your physician about products and programs designed to make quitting easier and final. You also might want to look at Clearing the Air: How to Quit Smoking, and Quit for Keeps a very good pamphlet from the National Cancer Institute, free on the Internet. It has clear, direct hints to help you prepare yourself to quit, actually quit, and keep yourself your smoke-free. Even if you have tried in the past, this brochure might hold the information to make it work this time. Nicotine is one of the most highly addictive substances known. Most people need to quit two or more times before they are able to stay smoke-free for good. Still, millions of people do quit each year--and your health, as well as the health of your children, is worth it.


RELATED INFORMATION

			Health Promotion
			Nose and Sinus Problems
			Tobacco
			Substance Use in Pregnancy

Created March 06, 2001
Reviewed March 09, 2001

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