Smoking while pregnant or around an infant has long been linked to development of asthma and allergies in young children. Now, researchers have found that the risk may persist into the teen years.
The study, which followed nearly 4,000 children in Sweden for 16 years, underscores the dangers of parental smoking, experts say.
Exposure to second-hand smoke during pregnancy or infancy increases a child’s risk of developing allergic disease even up to adolescence, said study a researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
Fetal exposure to cigarette smoking was linked with an overall 45 percent higher risk of getting asthma up until age 16. For infants exposed to a parent’s smoking, the risks of developing asthma and allergic rhinitis (stuffy or runny nose) in childhood or adolescence were 23 and 18 percent greater, respectively. The risk for eczema (inflamed, irritated skin) was 26 percent greater.
Previously, it wasn’t clear whether the risks for asthma and allergies continued into the teen years, researchers said.
The study, published online Augugust 18, 2014 in Pediatrics, only found an association between second-hand smoke and children’s health problems, however. It wasn’t designed to show a cause-and-effect relationship.
In this course of study the researchers asked parents of children born from 1994 to 1996 about their smoking habits, other lifestyle information, and symptoms of allergic diseases in their children.
Allergies aren’t the only childhood concern related to second-hand smoking. Second-hand smoke contains about 4,000 chemicals, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. More than 50 of those chemicals are known to cause cancer.
Smoking during pregnancy has also been linked with miscarriage, premature birth, lower birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and learning problems.
