Link between tobacco smoke and behavioural problems in boys with asthma

According to researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, boys with asthma who are exposed to secondhand smoke have higher degrees of hyperactivity, aggression, depression and other behavioral problems.  

In a study posted online ahead of print by the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, said behavioural problems increase along with higher exposure levels, but they added even low levels of tobacco smoke may be detrimental to behavior.

"These findings should encourage us to make stronger efforts to prevent childhood exposure to tobacco smoke, especially among higher risk populations, such as children with asthma," said Kimberly Yolton, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a researcher at the Children's Environmental Health Center at Cincinnati Children's.

Interestingly, although girls in the study were on average exposed to higher levels of tobacco smoke than boys, the exposure did not lead to an increase in behavioural problems among them, investigators said. In boys, however, behavioural problems increased about two fold with each doubling in their tobacco smoke exposure, said Dr. Yolton.

"The largest increase we observed was in overall behavioral problems, but it was interesting that in addition to externalizing behaviours - like hyperactivity and aggression - we also saw an increase in internalising behaviours, such as depression," explained Dr. Yolton.

Although no data exist to specifically explain why tobacco smoke causes behavioural problems in children with asthma, Dr. Yolton said there is "quite a bit of evidence" that nicotine in tobacco smoke affects development and functioning of the nervous system, as well as child development and behaviour.

According to estimates provided by parents, children in the current study were exposed to an average of 13 cigarettes a day. Parent estimates are frequently used in research as a gauge of child tobacco smoke exposure, but the current study went a step further because parental estimates can be inaccurate, said Dr. Yolton, also an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

Researchers also accounted for other factors that might affect child's behaviour. These included socioeconomics, like a parent's education and household income, parent mental health, asthma severity and medications used. The researchers also assessed physical and nurturing qualities of the home by using a tool called the Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME). The investigators also included whether mothers smoked during pregnancy, which Dr. Yolton said allowed researchers to strengthen findings related to environmental tobacco exposure.

Among 220 children in the study, 61 percent were boys, 56 percent were African American and 77 percent had moderate to severe asthma, with the rest having mild asthma. Inclusion in the study required that, other than asthma, the children have no other health problems, including mental retardation, and that they be exposed to at least five cigarettes a day. Families participating in the research were all participants in the Cincinnati Asthma Prevention Study.

Source: Medilexicon, 05 December 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/5bp3bw

Passive smoking 'increases risk of fertility problems and miscarriages'

Women who breathed in secondhand smoke as children are more likely to face fertility problems or have a miscarriage, researchers say.

Toxins in the smoke could have permanently damaged the women's bodies, causing the later problems.

Researchers stress that the findings further support restrictions on smoking.

The researchers, led by Luke Peppone at the University of Rochester in New York, studied 4,800 women treated at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in New York.

The women gave details of all pregnancies, attempts to conceive and miscarriages, as well as their history of smoking and breathing in secondhand smoke.

Overall, 11 per cent of the women reported difficulty becoming pregnant, and about a third lost one or more babies, the researchers report in the journal Tobacco Control.

A total of 40 percent reported prenatal pregnancy difficulty - either losing a baby or struggling to fall pregnant in the first place.

Women who remembered their parents smoking around them were 26 per cent more likely to have had difficulty conceiving and those exposed to any secondhand smoke were 39 per cent more likely to have miscarried.

Four out of five of the women said they were exposed to secondhand smoke at some point in their life and half grew up in a home with smoking parents.

‘These statistics are breathtaking and certainly point to yet another danger of secondhand smoke,’ Peppone said.

The researchers stressed that the effects of smoking and passive smoking ‘remain a public health priority.’ It is estimated that 17 per cent of British women continue to smoke while pregnant despite warnings over the damage to their own health and to that of their unborn children.

Exposure to secondhand smoke could affect women’s fertility by interfering with their hormones, the researchers suggest.

Source: Daily Mail, 05 December 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/6n9rmx

PM backs ban as tobacco sanction

Answering a question at Prime Minister's Question Time, Gordon Brown said that "stronger sanctions would be made against retailers who persistently sold cigarettes to children" when it published a new national tobacco control strategy in 2009.

"Tobacco use in this country has fallen from 28% to 22%, and for children it has fallen from 13% to 6%, but that is not good enough," Brown said. He added that a response to the consultation on the future of tobacco control would be published shortly.

However, Brown made no mention of display restrictions, or plain packaging for tobacco products, even when pressed by other MPs.

Instead of agreeing with David Taylor, MP for North-West Leicestershire and chairman of the All-Party Group on Smoking and Health, that these types of measures were necessary, Brown referred to negative licensing, whereby retailers who are believed to be consistently flouting the law on under-age sales are banned from selling tobacco.

Source: The Grocer, 02 December 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/5jnjh4

Australia: Men's smoking rate halved since 1980s

New figures show that smoking rates among Australian men have almost halved since 1980.

Cancer Council Victoria released a new report, Tobacco in Australia: Facts and Issues, which uses previously unpublished data to focus on smoking in Australian adults.

It paints a dramatic picture of the change in Australia's smoking culture since 1980 - though the authors say more remains to be done.

In 1980, 40 per cent of Australian men aged over 18 were smokers - now the figure is 21%. Over the same period, smoking rates in women have fallen from 29 per cent to 18 per cent.

The rates fell most sharply among young adults aged 18-24 - almost half of this age group were smokers in 1980, now it is less than one in five.

This drop in smoking rates has matched a decrease in lung cancer deaths.

Professor Mike Daube, deputy chair of the Australian Government's Preventative Health Task force, said public health campaigns had a direct effect on the decline in smoking rates.

"In Australia, a drop in male smoking rates in the early 1980s coincided with a period of new, well-funded Quit campaigns and an upsurge in debate about tobacco control issues in the media," he said.

"By contrast, the steady smoking rates during the early to mid 1990s correspond with a lull in legislative activity concerning tobacco advertising and smoking restrictions, and also with a sharp reduction in funding for public education campaigns."

The report also pointed out that our tobacco taxes are low by international standards: we have the third-lowest tobacco tax rate in the OECD group of countries, making cigarettes more affordable.

As well as a tax hike, the report called for an end to all remaining promotion of tobacco, enforced plain packaging with bigger health warnings, and tighter restrictions on public smoking to protect non-smokers.

Before the end of the year, the State Government is expected to release details of its tobacco control strategy.

Next year, the Federal Government's Preventative Health Taskforce will report on the health threat posed by tobacco.

Source: The Age, 08 December 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/6c8mpe