タバコのない 家庭で目指そう 皆勤賞
これまで、幼い子供たちへの受動喫煙の影響は良く知られているが、子供達の教育への影響についてはほとんど研究されていなかった。Southern Californiaの研究者は４年生の学童1932人を対象に両親や家族の喫煙について調査した。そして、前６ヶ月間に呼吸器疾患で欠席し子供を把握するため記録を調べた。この結果はAmerican Journal of Epidemiologyに発表され、喫煙者の家庭の子供は欠席が少なくとも２７％以上多いことを示した。家庭に喫煙者が２名以上いる場合と子供に喘息の既往がある場合には危険がかなり上昇し、例えば、家庭に２人以上の喫煙者がいる喘息児の場合、両親が喫煙しない健康な子供より４倍も欠席が多かった。他の研究も、喫煙者の子供では喘息の発生率が６０％高くなることを示している。
Passive smoking 'makes pupils ill'
BBC News By Pat Hagan 2003/5/24
Children from homes where family members smoke take more time off school with coughs and colds, according to research.
Study of almost 2,000 pupils at schools in southern California showed some were up to four times more likely to miss classes due to respiratory illness than those from smoke-free homes.
The finding comes just days after the British Medical Journal published a controversial paper questioning the risks of passive smoking.
Anti-smoking groups reacted angrily to the publication of the BMJ study - partly funded by the tobacco industry - which suggested the link with heart disease and lung cancer was considerably weaker than thought.
A spokesman for the charity Action on Smoking and Health told the BBC the latest research confirmed the social as well as physical damage that passive smoking causes.
"It does not surprise us at all that it affects not only children's health but their development as well," said researcher Naj Dehlavi.
"We already know that around 17,000 children a year under the age of five end up being hospitalised with problems like glue ear or respiratory complications as a direct result of passive smoking."
Little research
Although the impact on the health of young children is well known, little research has been carried out to see if their education is affected too.
Researchers from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California studied 1,932 fourth grade pupils and questioned each one on whether their parents or other family members smoked.
Records were then examined to see which children had been off school with chest problems in the previous six months.
The results, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, showed kids from smoking homes were at least 27 per cent more likely to have been off sick.
The risks rose considerably if there was more than one smoker and if the child had a history of asthma.
For example, asthmatic pupils with two or smokers at home were four times more likely to need time off than healthy youngsters whose parents were non-smokers.
Dr Frank Gilliland, who led the research, said: "Environmental tobacco smoke exposure is associated with increased respiratory-related school absenteeism among children, especially those with asthma."
A spokeswoman for the UK's National Asthma Campaign said other studies showed the incidence of asthma is increased by 60 per cent in children of smokers in the UK.
She added: "We would encourage any parent whose child has asthma to keep them away from smoky atmospheres as this can be harmful to growing lungs."