Estimation of the impact on children’s health of environmental tobacco smoke in England and Wales

In this paper, the population attributable risk (PAR), a measure of the excess risk of disease associated with a risk factor, is calculated for some of the common adverse health effects that have been associated with exposure of children to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS): childhood lower respirat...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health 2003-09, Vol.123 (3), p.175-180
Main Authors: Rushton, L, Courage, C, Green, E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Child
Child Welfare
Child, Preschool
England - epidemiology
Female
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Male
Population Surveillance
Respiratory Tract Infections - chemically induced
Respiratory Tract Infections - epidemiology
Risk Factors
Tobacco Smoke Pollution - adverse effects
Wales - epidemiology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In this paper, the population attributable risk (PAR), a measure of the excess risk of disease associated with a risk factor, is calculated for some of the common adverse health effects that have been associated with exposure of children to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS): childhood lower respiratory illness, chronic middle ear disease, asthma and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Published data on both risk estimates and the percentage of children exposed to ETS in the home (prevalence of ETS) have been utilised. The percentage of childhood lower respiratory illness and middle ear disease typically attributable to ETS from either parent smoking ranged from 9% for asthma prevalence and for referral for glue ear, to 25% for hospital admission for lower respiratory illness. Where data were available to calculate PARs separately for mother only smoking and father only smoking, the PARs were generally larger for mothers only smoking, due mainly to higher odds ratios for mothers only smoking. The PAR for SIDS attributable to ETS from mother only smoking was 11%. Although based on a small number of studies, the PAR for SIDS attributable to smoking of fathers only was similar to that attributable to the smoking of mothers only, largely due to the higher prevalence of households where only the father smokes. This study has shown that the impact of ETS on childhood illness can be considerable, emphasising the importance of the need to develop effective strategies for reducing the risk of ETS exposure in the home and elsewhere.
ISSN:1466-4240
1476-9042
DOI:10.1177/146642400312300315