Bengaluru: For most mothers hurting their children would be unthinkable. But if they are smokers they may be inadvertently harming them.
A pan India study published in the Journal of Asthma says children exposed to passive smoking in the company of mothers lighting a cigarette are at a higher risk of developing asthma.
The International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Childhood (ISAAC) done by prominent pulmonologists and other experts, says the odds of six to seven- year- olds exposed to maternal smoking developing asthma are 2.7 times higher than of those who are not exposed to smoking mothers.
And 13 to 14- year- olds doing passive smoking around their mothers are 2.1 times more at risk of developing asthma than children who do not have mothers in the habit of enjoying a puff around them .
Interestingly, the risk of children developing asthma is lower if their fathers smoke, claims the study.
The odds of six to seven -year- olds developing the disease due to exposure to paternal smoking are only 1.9 times higher and of 13 to 14- year-olds, only 1.2 times greater.
Children in both age groups are more at risk of developing asthma due to maternal smoking than paternal smoking, the study claims.
While many city hospitals are seeing more cases of asthma of late, the study interestingly concludes that the prevalence of asthma is lower in India than globally. Whether this lets parents in the country off the hook or not is hard to say.
Dr Vivek Anand Padegal, pulmonologist, Fortis Hospitals, says there is an increase in asthma among school children and parental smoking does increase the risk of them developing it.
“Around 40 per cent of our OPD cases are asthma related today. Parental smoking could contribute to worsened control symptoms. So parents are best advised to give up aggressive smoking.”
The study also found an association between environmental tobacco smoking and the prevalence of asthma symptoms. Air pollution caused by traffic and other reasons could also contribute to children developing asthma , say experts.
