Smoking linked to child deaths

ROCHESTER, N.Y. More young children are killed by exposure to their
parents' cigarette smoking than by all accidents combined, according to a
study published in Monday's Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent
Medicine.

Parental smoking also costs the nation $4.6 billion a year in medical
expenses and another $8.2 billion in loss of life, said the two pediatricians
who authored the study, Dr. C. Andrew Aligne of Rochester General
Hospital and Dr. Jeffrey J. Stoddard of the University of Wisconsin Medical
School.

"There are lots of things that affect children's health, that reduce their
chances for happy, successful lives," said Aligne. "But here we have
something we know how to prevent.

"This is potentially the biggest preventable cause of mortality in young
children."

The two doctors called on pediatricians across the country to encourage
parents to quit smoking and to persuade their teenage patients not to
begin.

Exposure to passive, or secondhand, smoke can decrease lung growth in
children, make them shorter, cause asthma and increase the lifetime risk
of heart disease and high cholesterol, Aligne said.

It is even dangerous before birth, because smoking in pregnancy has been
linked to premature, low birthweight babies, he said. Low birthweight
babies are more likely to die in their first month.

"All of this is increased risk," Aligne said. "It's not that all children of
smokers die within the first months of life."

The doctors compiled their research from secondhand smoking studies
that were conducted in the United States from 1980 to May 1996, among
children from infancy to age 18. They linked parental smoking to:

Asthma, the most common chronic disease of childhood, 1.8
million doctor visits and 14 deaths a year.

Low birthweight babies, 46,000 cases and 2,800 deaths a year.
Sudden infant death syndrome, 2,000 deaths a year.

Respiratory syncytial virus, an inflammation in the small airways of
the lungs that is the leading cause of lower respiratory infection in
infants and young children. About 22,000 hospitalizations and
1,100 deaths a year were linked to passive smoking.

Acute middleear infections, 3.4 million cases and 110,000
insertions of ear tubes a year.

Burns, 10,000 doctor visits, 590 hospitalizations and 250 deaths a
year among children in cigaretterelated fires.

Rochester General plans to set up a smoking cessation clinic for parents,
said Aligne, who is also an instructor in pediatrics and a research fellow at
the University of Rochester Medical Center. He said he has persuaded
some parents to cut down their smoking but not to quit.

"Lots of women quit during pregnancy," he said. "But the relapse rate is
high once the baby is born." That is one reason why doctors need to
target new parents, he said.

If parents will not quit smoking, they should be told to do it outside the
house or in a restricted area, he said. "In the winter, smoking outside is
difficult. But just smoking by an open window will help. Or smoking in the
kitchen with the stove fan on. Every little bit helps."

By Susan J. Smith, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle