Effects of environmental tabacco smoke on respiratory symptoms and function in school children

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and maternal tobacco smoking during pregnancy (MTS) are risk factors for respiratory disease in childhood. We investigated, in a sample of schoolchildren from a general population, the effect of ETS and MTS on respiratory health in a cross sectional survey. We studied 1357 students (672 males), aged 10-16 years, randomly selected from 16 junior high schools of Palermo, South of Italy. All of them performed spirometry and skin prick tests (SPT) and their parents fulfilled a respiratory questionnaire including questions on MTS and ETS at home. We found that 12.6% of the students were exposed to MTS, 27.2% to ETS in the first year of life (eETS), 30.6% had at least an acute episode of respiratory disturbances (asthmatic bronchitis, bronchiolitis, bronchitis, pneumonia) during the first 2 years of life (RD), and 4.3% had current asthma (doctor diagnosis plus at least one wheeze episode in the last year - CA) at the time of survey.