As the World Health Organisation celebrates
the World No Tobacco Day, MAUREEN AZUH examines a study that focuses on
the hazards of exposing children to tobacco smoke
On Thursday, May 31, the World Health
Organisation celebrated the World No Tobacco Day with the theme ‘Tobacco
Industry Interference’. The campaign focused on the need to expose and
counter the perceived tobacco industry’s attempt to undermine WHO’s
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control — WHO FCTC — because of the
danger they pose to public health.
According to reports by WHO, tobacco use is
one of the leading preventable causes of death. The global tobacco
epidemic kills nearly six million people yearly, of which more than
600,000 are people exposed to second-hand smoke. The reports indicate
that unless a drastic action is taken, it will kill up to eight million
people by 2030 and 40 million people — who also suffer from tuberculosis
— by 2020 of which more than 80 per cent will live in low- and
middle-income countries.
But beyond WHO’s report and campaign,
researchers in their bid to find a lasting solution to tobacco-related
diseases say children exposed to tobacco smoke may face long-term
respiratory problems. In a report by the American Thoracic Society,
published online on May 20, 2012, it was found that there are potential
health risks associated with exposure to environmental tobacco smoke –
ETS – especially among children whose parents smoke.
The study conducted by researchers from the
University of Arizona, US indicates that the health risks persist
beyond childhood, and are independent of whether or not the individuals
involved end up becoming smokers in life. The researchers posit that
exposure to parental smoking increases the risk of the persistence of
respiratory symptoms from childhood into adulthood independent of
personal smoking.
Research specialist at the university,
Juliana Pugmire, says “persistent respiratory illness in childhood and
young adulthood could indicate an increased risk of chronic respiratory
illness and lung function deficits in later life.”
Pugmire notes that earlier studies
established a link between parental smoking and childhood respiratory
illness, but the current one seeks to demonstrate whether these effects
persist into adulthood.
“A handful of studies examined whether
children exposed to parental smoking had asthma that developed or
persisted in adulthood but most did not find an association. We examined
asthma as well as other respiratory symptoms and found that exposure to
parental smoking had the strongest association with cough and chronic
cough that persisted into adult life. Exposure to parental smoking also
had effects, although weaker, on persistent wheezing and asthma in
adulthood,” she says.
The researchers drew data from the Tucson
Epidemiological Study of Airway Obstructive Disease, a large,
population-based, prospective study initiated in 1972 that enrolled
3,805 individuals from 1,655 households in the Tucson area, in an
effort to assess prevalence rates and risk factors of respiratory and
other chronic diseases.
Participants were asked to complete
questionnaires that were issued every two years until 1996. But for the
present study, the researchers used data from 371 individuals who were
enrolled in the TESAOD as children.
Pugmire and her colleagues looked at the
reported prevalence of active asthma, wheeze, cough and chronic cough,
which was defined as a persistent cough that had occurred for three
consecutive months. They divided the data into four categories: never, which included individuals who had not reported that symptom during childhood or adulthood; incident,
which included individuals who had never reported the symptom in
childhood, but had reported at least one incident in adulthood; remittent, including participants who reported at least one incident in childhood and none in adulthood; and persistent, which included individuals who had at least one report of a symptom during both childhood and adulthood.
With the data, the researchers determined
that 52.3 per cent of children included in the current study were
exposed to ETS between birth and 15 years. After adjustments for sex,
age, years of follow-up and personal smoking status, the researchers
found that ETS exposure in childhood was significantly associated with
several persistent respiratory symptoms, including persistent wheeze,
cough and chronic cough.
Pugmire states that persistent wheezing
from childhood into adult life has been shown to be associated with lung
function deficits. Chronic bronchitis – defined as chronic cough and
phlegm – is a significant risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease development later in life.
“The persistence of symptoms like chronic
cough and wheeze into young adulthood may indicate a susceptibility to
lung function deficits and chronic respiratory illness with age,” she
adds.
Perhaps in a likely search for a lasting
solution to the menace of tobacco smoking, yet another study says
anti-Tobacco television adverts may help adults to stop smoking. The
study published in the online journal, American Journal of Public Health,
in April, finds that though some adverts may be more effective than
others, all anti-tobacco television advertising help reduce adult
smoking.
The study looked at the relationship
between adults’ smoking behaviours and their exposure to adverts
sponsored by states; private foundations; tobacco companies themselves
or by pharmaceutical companies marketing smoking-cessation products. The
researchers analysed variables such as smoking status, intentions to
quit smoking, attempts to quit in the past year, and average daily
cigarette consumption. The report says they found that in markets with
higher exposure to state-sponsored media campaigns, “smoking is less,
and intentions to quit are higher.”
The researchers, however, say an unexpected
finding of the study was that adults who were in areas with more
adverts for pharmaceutical cessation products were less likely to make
an attempt to quit.
Meanwhile, as WHO and other countries move
to fully meet their obligations and counter tobacco industry’s efforts
to undermine the treaty, the World No Tobacco Day 2012 – according to
WHO – educated policy-makers and the general public about the tobacco
industry’s nefarious and harmful tactics, as well as reinforce health
warnings of tobacco.
