Kids from smoky homes 
more likely to miss school

New research confirms passive smoke harm to children 

“

A new study shows primary school children exposed to tobacco smoke at home are more likely to miss school with respiratory ailments, especially asthma. 

Health leaders in Australia have repeated calls for an increase in government investment in anti-smoking campaigns, following publication of the US research.

The research, from the University of Southern California, has just been published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.*  Based on a study of almost 2,000 fourth-graders, it found:

• Fourth-graders who live with at least one smoker are 27% more likely to miss school because of a respiratory illness compared to those in smokefree homes.

• Living with more than one smoker further increased the likelihood – children who lived with at least two smokers were 75 percent more likely than those from smokefree homes to miss school due to respiratory illness.

• Having asthma worsened the risks of absence. Children with asthma who lived with smokers were more than twice as likely to stay home because of respiratory illness than non-asthmatic kids from smokefree households. In asthmatic kids who lived with at least two smokers, the risk of such absences shot up by more than four-fold.

• Even children old enough to attend school full-time, and who therefore spend every weekday away from home, still feel the effects of secondhand smoke.

The current study "adds to the importance of promoting smoking cessation among parents who smoke cigarettes”.

“It’s a fact that secondhand smoke may help cause or aggravate respiratory infections, or worsen pre-existing asthma,” says Anne Jones, Chief Executive of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Australia.

“Cases of repeated absence should be examined more closely for a connection between chronic respiratory illness and smoking at home,” she says. “Where a connection is found, more and better counselling should be provided to the family to address the problem.

“This is an area where governments should be investing more in tobacco prevention campaigns.

“More than a hundred Australian children die each year from involuntary exposure to secondhand  smoke. As well as increasing absentee rates, research shows it also harms children’s ability to learn.”

* Gilliland F et al, “Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Absenteeism Related to Respiratory Illness in Schoolchildren”, in American Journal of Epidemiology, 
May 2003;157:861-869,873; online at  http://aje.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/157/10/861
 

Comment:             Anne Jones, CEO ASH       ph. 0417-227-879

Media inquiries:            Stafford Sanders        ph. (02) 9334-1823 

Page last updated on 28/5/2002