Tobacco.org

LETTER: Outdoor smoking affects other people 

The editorial on smoking says nonsmokers should learn to relax and stop telling other people what to do with their health. What the editorial fails to take into account is the effect of cigarette smoke on my health as a non-smoker.

I have severe asthma, and cigarette smoke is one of my triggers. Last summer, I attempted to go to a few events in public parks.

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Students to learn about asthma, smoke-free air 

MUNCIE -- For the sixth straight year, CDI Head Start of Delaware County will be hosting Smoke-Free Day at Head Start at 9:30 a.m. today.

This annual event is held in recognition of National Asthma Awareness Month, helping students and parents understand the impact that smoking and secondhand smoke have on asthma.

"Asthma is a very serious condition for children and adolescents around the world, and Delaware County is no exception," said Erica Bailey, asthma coordinator for the Delaware County Health Department and chair of the Asthma Coalition of Delaware County. "It's important that families are aware that smoking and secondhand smoke are harmful to all children and adolescents."

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[4340.2] Impact of Tobacco Smoke Exposure on Children Ages 6-19 Years with Asthma in the US, 2003-2010  

Second-Hand Smoke Worsens Asthma in Kids 

• Secondhand smoke continues to vex children with asthma 

many youths are still exposed to secondhand smoke and their health suffers because of it, according to a study to be presented Tuesday, May 1, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Boston.

"National asthma guidelines have advised avoidance of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) for patients with asthma for decades, but it is unclear to what degree these recommendations are being followed and what the impact of exposure has been in an era of increased awareness of the effects of ETS exposure," said lead author Lara J. Akinbami, MD, FAAP, medical officer, National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Researchers undertook this investigation after co-author Brian Kit, MD, MPH, conducted a study showing that 53 percent of children with asthma were exposed to smoke from cigarettes, cigars or pipes from 2005 to 2010. These findings also will be presented at the PAS meeting on Saturday, April 28.

Investigators analyzed data from the 2003-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for 972 children ages 6-19 years

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Interaction of a 17q12 variant with both fetal and infant smoke exposure in the development of childhood asthma-like symptoms: Epidemiology and Genetics  

Secondhand Smoke Affects Young Girls More Than Boys: Study 

Secondhand Smoke Affects Young Girls More Than Boys: Study 

First study to explore differential gender effects of secondhand smoke exposure 

Early-life exposure to secondhand smoke affects girls more than boys, new study suggests 

Children exposed to passive smoking showed higher chance of developing wheeze, asthma 

Secondhand smoke again tied to asthma in kids 

Prenatal and Passive Smoke Exposure and Incidence of Asthma and Wheeze: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis 

• Wheeze, Asthma in Children Linked to Passive Smoke Exposure 

Children who are exposed to tobacco smoke prenatally or in their home after birth are at least 20% more likely to have wheezing episodes or develop asthma. The magnitude of the risks is higher than seen in previous estimates, according to a meta-analysis published online March 19 in Pediatrics.

Hannah Burke, BMBS, from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, and colleagues conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 71 prospective epidemiologic studies that examined the association between passive smoke exposure and the incidence of pediatric wheeze and asthma.

After conducting an extensive literature search that included Medline, Embase, and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, as well as conference abstracts, they identified and screened 5074 articles, yielding 70 articles with a total of 71 studies.

"We included all prospective epidemiologic studies assessing the association between passive smoke exposure and incidence of asthma or wheeze in children or young people up to the age of 18 years in which participants were free of disease (asthma or wheeze) at the start of the study and passive smoke exposure was documented at a time point before the incidence of disease was determined," the authors write.

The researchers analyzed the effects of 4 different types of smoke exposure on the development of wheezing and asthma: prenatal maternal smoking, maternal smoking, paternal smoking, and household smoke exposure.

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• Did Media Erase Pulitzer Winner's Bad Habit?  

It’s been widely reported that two-time Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times reporter Anthony Shadid died at 43 last Thursday of an asthma attack, apparently triggered by an allergy to horses. But much less mentioned is that Shadid—a brilliant and dedicated reporter and by all accounts a humane and generous man—was also a longtime heavy smoker who wanted to quit and couldn’t. And that smoking has life-threatening effects for people with asthma. A very few mentions of Shadid’s nicotine habit appear on the Internet: “He knew he shouldn’t smoke because of his asthma, but he felt it was a forgivable peccadillo,” wrote one former colleague in The Atlantic. “RIP Anthony Shadid. Last december he told me he was quitting smoking in a month,” tweeted another the day after Shadid died. The Times has yet to respond to our questions about why it didn't mention that Shadid was a smoker.

Neil C. Thomson, MD, honorary senior research fellow at the Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, tells The Fix, “Cigarette smoking in asthma is associated with high rates of life-threatening asthma attacks and greater asthma mortality.” . . .

But quit-rates are low, as Thomson writes in an article published in this month's issue of Chest journal. Because of the critical dangers of smoking for asthmatics he calls for more large randomized clinical trials of drug treatment in asthma patients who are active smokers.

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