Abstract
The detrimental effect of secondhand smoke (SHS) on health is well known; due to various factors, efforts to prevent SHS cannot completely eliminate the effect of smoking substances, and SHS has not been sufficiently investigated among children. This study aimed to assess children’s smoke exposure with respect to parents smoking patterns using biomarkers. This study used data from the 2016/2017 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Data pertaining to 486 subjects was extracted. Exposure to smoking among non-smoking children was assessed based on urine levels of 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol (NNAL). The urine NNAL concentration was highest among children with smoking parents and SHS exposure at home (3.829 pg/mg, 95% confidence interval [CI: 1.499–8.330), followed by children with smoking parents and no SHS exposure at home (1.297, 95% CI: 1.080–1.536), and children with nonsmoking parents and no SHS exposure at home (0.996 pg/mg, 95% CI: 1.026–1.427). Living with a smoking parent was associated with exposure to carcinogens, and a critical predictor of tobacco-specific nitrosamine. Prohibition of smoking at home is effective at preventing SHS in children. However, it cannot completely prevent passive smoking, which might be attributable to thirdhand smoking and undetected secondhand smoke.
Highlights
Studies have been conducted to identify Secondhand smoke (SHS) and thirdhand smoke (THS) in children at the population level, but the causes of exposure outside the home have not been controlled[19]; and it is not easy to generalize because smoking habits differ depending on the country and culture[20,21]
The mean number of cigarettes smoked among smoking parents was 14.2; Among parents-smokers whose children were not exposed to SHS at home, the average number of cigarettes smoked was 13.7; for parents whose children were exposed to SHS at home, it was 18 (Table 1)
We found that children who lived with smoking parents still had a higher level of urine NNAL concentration than children with nonsmoking parents, even if they were not exposed to SHS at home
Summary
Studies have been conducted to identify SHS and THS in children at the population level, but the causes of exposure outside the home have not been controlled[19]; and it is not easy to generalize because smoking habits differ depending on the country and culture[20,21]. To the best of our knowledge, this has not been studied in Asian children. This study aims to ensure that the efforts to limit smoking in the home to prevent SHS in their homes are protecting their children well with smoking substances. I examined children’s smoke exposure by measuring biomarkers in: (i) children who live with non-smoking parents and have not been exposed to SHS at home, (ii) children who live with at least one smoking parent and have not been exposed to SHS at home, and (iii) children who live with at least one smoking parent and have been exposed to SHS
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