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Household Smoking Behavior: Effects on Indoor Air Quality and Health of Urban Children with Asthma

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Abstract

The goal of the study was to examine the association between biomarkers and environmental measures of second hand smoke (SHS) with caregiver, i.e. parent or legal guardian, report of household smoking behavior and morbidity measures among children with asthma. Baseline data were drawn from a longitudinal intervention for 126 inner city children with asthma, residing with a smoker. Most children met criteria for moderate to severe persistent asthma (63%) versus mild intermittent (20%) or mild persistent (17%). Household smoking behavior and asthma morbidity were compared with child urine cotinine and indoor measures of air quality including fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and air nicotine (AN). Kruskal–Wallis, Wilcoxon rank-sum and Spearman rho correlation tests were used to determine the level of association between biomarkers of SHS exposure and household smoking behavior and asthma morbidity. Most children had uncontrolled asthma (62%). The primary household smoker was the child’s caregiver (86/126, 68%) of which 66 (77%) were the child’s mother. Significantly higher mean PM2.5, AN and cotinine concentrations were detected in households where the caregiver was the smoker (caregiver smoker: PM2.5 μg/m3: 44.16, AN: 1.79 μg/m3, cotinine: 27.39 ng/ml; caregiver non-smoker: PM2.5: 28.88 μg/m3, AN: 0.71 μg/m3, cotinine:10.78 ng/ml, all P ≤ 0.01). Urine cotinine concentrations trended higher in children who reported 5 or more symptom days within the past 2 weeks (>5 days/past 2 weeks, cotinine: 28.1 ng/ml vs. <5 days/past 2 weeks, cotinine: 16.2 ng/ml; P = 0.08). However, environmental measures of SHS exposures were not associated with asthma symptoms. Urban children with persistent asthma, residing with a smoker are exposed to high levels of SHS predominantly from their primary caregiver. Because cotinine was more strongly associated with asthma symptoms than environmental measures of SHS exposure and is independent of the site of exposure, it remains the gold standard for SHS exposure assessment in children with asthma.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Science, NIH (E09606), the Environmental Protection Agency (P01 R-826724) and the Johns Hopkins Center for Childhood Asthma in the Urban Environment. We appreciate Heath Bradley, Craig Lewis, Rooti Lewis and Patrice Parham for the collection of the data and James E. McGuffey and Connie S. Sosnoff for performing the urine cotinine analyses and Jie Yuan for air nicotine analyses. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Correspondence to Arlene M. Butz.

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Butz, A.M., Breysse, P., Rand, C. et al. Household Smoking Behavior: Effects on Indoor Air Quality and Health of Urban Children with Asthma. Matern Child Health J 15, 460–468 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-010-0606-7

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