Home > Examining the prevalence of parental smoking in children < 5 yr admitted with respiratory illnesses.

O'Shea, J and Carolan, E and Ni Chroinin, M (2010) Examining the prevalence of parental smoking in children < 5 yr admitted with respiratory illnesses. Irish Medical Journal, 103, (5),

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Letter to the editor.
There is clear evidence that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in early life is associated with an increased incidence of lower respiratory tract infections1 including wheezing illnesses.2,3 The prevalence of cigarette smoking in Ireland was 24% in December 2007.4 This has decreased since introduction of the smoking ban in 2004, prevalence then being 31%. However a significant number of Irish children are still regularly exposed to cigarette smoke. We wished to examine parental smoking in preschool children admitted with respiratory illness. We hypothesised that (a) more children of parents who smoke would require admission, (b) the a hand held CO monitor (PICOplus smokelyzer) may be a means of assessing parental smoking behaviour and (c) the CO monitor may be a helpful tool to aid with parental education about the dangers of smoking.


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