Pre- or postnatal pasive smoking increases the risk of asthma

According to a report in the July 1st issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, pre- or postnatal passive smoking greatly increases the risk of asthma or respiratory symptoms in adulthood.

The lead author Dr. Trude Duelien Skorge, from Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway, and colleagues note that it remained unclear if such exposure actually influenced the risk of disease in adulthood.

Previous studies have looked at the effects of early passive smoking on respiratory disease later in life. To investigate further, the research team conducted an evaluated an analysis of data from nearly 3000 subjects who participated in an 11-year community cohort study in Western Norway.

Smoking exposure increases the risk of asthma

The study results show that passive smoking in utero or in childhood increase the risk of asthma, phlegm cough, chronic cough, dyspnea, and wheezing in adulthood. Further analysis revealed that 17.3% of the adult incidence of asthma was attributable to maternal smoke exposure, whereas 9.3% was due to smoke exposure from other household members.

"The estimated attributable fractions," Dr. Skorge stated, "suggest that almost a quarter of the incident cases of adult asthma could be prevented if children were not exposed to pre- and post-natal environmental tobacco smoke."









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