Secondhand Smoke Increases Severe Infection Risks for Kids

Children who are raised around secondhand smoke are more likely to suffer from asthma and respiratory ailments than those who are raised in non smoking households.

Children who are in contact with secondhand smoke are now thought to be at increased risk of severe infections. These infections cover a wide range of illnesses, including, but not limited to meningococcal disease, a severe bacterial infection of the bloodstream or meninges (a thin lining covering the brain and spinal cord) caused by the meningococcus germ.

Those children, who are exposed to secondhand smoke during their first month of life, are most at risk for the future infections and illnesses.

Children are not the only ones that are hurt by the effects of secondhand smoke. Due to more and more scientific evidence of increased chances of lung cancer, asthma and other smoke related illnesses, bans are being put in place all over the United States preventing smoking in enclosed areas where others may be harmed through no ill choice of their own.

The study involving secondhand smoke and children followed nearly 7,500 children who were born in Hong Kong from between the months of April and May of 1997. This sector of the Hong Kong children’s population accounts for 80% of all births for the year. Researchers kept track of the children and their health until the age of 8.

The children who came in contact with secondhand smoke, up to almost 10 feet, in the early years of their life were 14% more likely to be hospitalized for a severe infection before the age of 8.

If the secondhand smoke exposure occurred during the first 6 months of life, that increased risk grew to 45%. For the premature babies of the group, secondhand smoke increased a risk of infections of 75% by the age of 8.

Researchers believe that secondhand smoke may somehow affect the immune system of children, which would account for the increased risk in children who are younger and have an immune system that is underdeveloped.

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