Asthmatic Children See Doctor Less When Parents Smoke

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Secondhand smoke may cause significant health effects in asthmatic children. Yet asthmatic children whose parents are heavy smokers are less likely to visit a doctor for their disease, regardless of social class, according to a new report.

``The finding suggests that children with asthma who have parents who smoke may not be receiving adequate management,'' write I. K. Crombie, from the University of Dundee, UK, and colleagues.

The researchers speculate that heavy smoking may lower a parent's awareness of asthma symptoms associated with smoking. These parents might also be reluctant to take their child to the doctor because ``they do not wish to be told to stop smoking,'' the authors suggest.

Indeed, the study found no link between parental smoking and the number of times a child visited a doctor for reasons other than asthma.

``Parents who suspect that their smoking could affect their child's asthma may be less willing to receive anti-smoking advice and could seek to avoid it,'' Crombie's team explains.

The study included 438 asthmatics aged 2 to 12 years who had at least one parent who smoked. The more a parent smoked in front of the child, the fewer visits a child made to the doctor for asthma, the report indicates. Maternal smoking had a particularly strong effect on the number of times an asthmatic child visited the doctor.

Other studies have suggested that secondhand smoke can trigger asthma symptoms such as wheezing in young children with the chronic respiratory disease. Researchers have also observed that many children with asthma are exposed to secondhand smoke, also known as passive smoking.

In an accompanying editorial, James A. R. Friend from Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, writes, ``Children with asthma whose parents smoke may not only be more likely to develop asthma, but may be managed less closely, possibly to their detriment. Doctors and nurses should be aware of this in planning routine asthma care for children.''

SOURCE: Thorax 2001;56:1, 9-12.