INTRODUCTION. There is relatively strong evidence among children showing that
passive smoking is associated with respiratory symptoms and respiratory
diseases, but few studies have been carried out in Serbian population.
OBJECTIVE. Establishment of association between exposure to tobacco smoke
within family and prevalence of the upper and lower respiratory symptoms in
school children. METHOD. In this descriptive epidemiological study, studied
population consisted of 533 school children, 12.96?1.54 years old, residents
of Nis town, from the area with identical open air pollution. Environmental
tobacco smoke exposure was recorded in 382 children. Data about symptoms in
children, conditions of habitation, presence of pets and hereditary
predisposition were entered into structured questionnaire. RESULTS. T-test
and ?2-test statistics showed no significant difference of living conditions,
hereditary predisposition among children and average time which passive
smoker and nonsmoker children spent indoors. In both groups, the upper
respiratory symptoms were more frequent (42.4%-80.2%) in comparison to lower
respiratory symptoms (14.4%-25.7%). There was significant difference of the
upper and lower respiratory symptoms between the exposed children and control
group (?2=9.7>?2 (1.005) =3.8, p>0.05 - for the upper and ? 2 =4.4 >? 2
(1.005) =3.8, p>0.05 - for the lower respiratory symptoms). Primary health
care need for respiratory symptoms and diseases due to effect of passive
smoking was higher in the exposed children. CONCLUSION. The results provide
evidence of adverse respiratory effects of passive smoking to children being
exposed to smoke in domestic setting. These findings emphasize the need for
effective measures of prevention of involuntary smoking during childhood in
Serbia.
Childhood exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and chronic respiratory symptoms in non-smoking adults: The Singapore Chinese Health Study
