Children exposed to tobacco smoke at home are up
to three times more likely to have attention deficit hyperactive disorder
(ADHD) as unexposed kids, according to a new study from Spain.
New research suggests that young kids growing up in a tobacco smokey home
are three times more likely to develop attention deficit hyperactive disorder
(ADHD) than those who aren’t, and the
link is stronger in those who have more than a couple of hours exposure each
day.
"We showed a significant and substantial dose-response association
between (secondhand smoke) exposure in the home and a higher frequency of
global mental problems," the team
concludes in the journal Tobacco Control.
The international team, led by Alicia Padron from the University of Miami
Miller School of Medicine in the US, analysed data that was gathered by the
Spanish National Health Interview Survey between 2011 and 2012, which includes
pertinent lifestyle information from 2,357 parents with kids between four and
12 years old.
The survey questioned the parents on the secondhand smoke exposure levels
of their children, and found that 8 percent of the kids had been diagnosed with
a probable mental disorder. According to
Shereen Lehman at Reuters, the data also showed that, "about 7 percent of the kids were exposed
to secondhand smoke for less than one hour per day, and 4.5 percent were
exposed for an hour or more each day.”
"After taking the parent's mental health, family structure and
socioeconomic status into consideration, children who were exposed to
secondhand smoke for less than one hour per day were 50% more likely to have
some mental disorder compared to kids not exposed at all.
And children who were habitually exposed to secondhand smoke for an hour or
more each day were close to three times more likely to have a mental disorder.
In addition, kids exposed less than one hour per day were twice as likely
to have ADHD as kids who weren't exposed, and children exposed for an hour or
more on a daily basis were over three times more likely to have ADHD."
But limitations of the study are pretty significant - while the researchers
have found a clear link between exposure to secondhand smoke and ADHD, they
can’t prove causation, and there is not sufficient research to explain why
smoke would have this affect on a young, developing mind. That said, even in
its early stages, research like this is super-important, and hopefully in the
future some more concrete conclusions can be drawn.
And besides, as Lucy Popova from the Centre for Tobacco Control Research
and Education at the University of California, San Francisco in the US, who was
not involved in the research, told Reuters, there’s enough evidence already to suggest
that exposing your child to secondhand smoke is a bad idea anyway, regardless
of a possible ADHD link.
"Research on effects of secondhand smoke on mental health have been
really just emerging and this study really contributes to this growing body of
evidence that exposure to secondhand smoke in children might be responsible for
cognitive and behavioural problems," she said.
Source: Scientific American
Posted by Kids Are Special
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