Association Between Place of Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Depression Among Nonsmoking Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review.

Abstract

Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure patterns of children and adolescents are different from those of adults because children and adolescents spend a majority of their time in the home and school. It was aimed to conduct a systematic review of the published literature regarding the association between depression and the place of SHS exposure among children and adolescents. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) reporting guidelines, PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Cochrane Library databases were used for the literature review. The studies were screened and selected by two independent reviewers based on the inclusion criteria. All eight studies included in the systematic review measured SHS exposure in participants' own homes. Two studies measured SHS exposure at school and one study in cars. The majority of the studies showed a positive association between depression and SHS exposure in both private and public places among nonsmoking children and adolescents. Also, they concluded a dose-response relationship between SHS exposure and depression. Health practitioners would be encouraged to work with stakeholders to create smoke-free policies in both private and public places to avoid the adverse effects of SHS exposure.