Recent research shows that postnatal and prenatal cigarette smoke exposure decreases lung function. The effects of smoking during pregnancy last up to the age of 12 and exposure to cigarette smoking after birth further deteriorates the lung function. Researchers from the Medical University in Vienna, Germany, analysed results from a total of 22,712 children from eight countries. It was found that children of mothers who smoke were 30 percent to 40 percent more likely to have poor lung function than children born to non-smokers. Early-life exposure increased the risk of poor lung function to a lesser degree, by 24 percent to 27 percent. Sixty percent of the children in the study had been exposed to cigarette smoke before birth or in early life. Considering the high number of exposed children, this indicates that both environmental tobacco smoke exposure and smoking during pregnancy remains a severe public health problem. The findings are a reminder that legal efforts to reduce exposure to cigarette smoke in workplaces aren't protecting the group of people at greatest risk from passive smoking - young children. Children are primarily exposed to tobacco smoke in the home, where legal restrictions do not apply.
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine,
June 2006