Smoke in the Womb Means Asthma Later

Maternal smoking during pregnancy increases the rate of asthma in children, according to a University of Southern California study that looked at lifetime tobacco smoke exposure histories of 5,762 fourth-, seventh-, and tenth-grade students in Southern California.

The report, published in the February 2001 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, states that the probability of physician-diagnosed asthma for children exposed to tobacco smoke in utero via maternal smoking was 1.8-fold higher than for children with no exposure. The investigators remark that elimination of fetal exposure to maternal smoking could prevent an estimated 5-15% of childhood asthma cases.

COPYRIGHT 2001 National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group