Infants, Toddlers at More Risk from Exposure to Second-Hand Smoke than Thought

A new study finds that infants and toddlers in low-income communities may be even more at risk from second -hand smoke exposure than has been thought.

Tobacco smoke. Image credit: Robert Aleck, www.cynexia.com/Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 2.5)

In testing that included more than 1,200 children, researchers found that up to 15 percent of them had levels of cotinine, a byproduct of the body's breakdown of nicotine, comparable with what would be found in an adult smoker.

Overall, about 63 percent of the babies and young children in the study had discernible levels of cotinine, evidence of significant exposure to second- and third-hand smoke, according to the study.

The study sought to find if infants and very young children are at increased risk from passive tobacco smoke exposure given their higher respiration rates and likely contact with surface residues. The exposure included second-hand smoke from being around a smoking adult or third-hand smoke from residue on surfaces like toys, floors, or clothing.

Some parents are trying to reduce their children's exposure. They go outside, or they don't smoke around their child, but they may not know it's all over them, and when they pick the baby up and cuddle the baby, the baby's getting it through their clothes, their hair.

Certain factors that often coincide with poverty also tended to coincide with higher cotinine levels—more residential moves, unstable households with adults coming and going, low educational attainment by adults in the household, and low income. Children who spent time in center-based day care were less likely to have high cotinine levels.

And while the children tested for the study lived in rural communities, the researchers said it's unlikely children in urban communities are any less at risk.

It might be even more worrisome, in that kids in urban environments are operating in more of a toxic chemical soup than kids in a more rural environment. (Tasnim News Agency)

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