“Our results suggest that establishing a policy against smoking
in the home in the first three to six months after birth is important in
controlling infants’ environmental tobacco smoke exposure in the
home,” say Marianna Sockrider, M.D., Dr.P.H., of Baylor College of
Medicine and colleagues. Their study appears in the December issue of Nicotine & Tobacco
Research.
Three months after birth, 63 percent of the homes had a no-smoking policy
in effect. At six months, the percentage dropped slightly to 60 percent
and then rebounded to 64 percent at 12 months.
Mothers who had established a no-smoking policy at three months were more
likely than others to still have the policy at six months. Those who said
they were confident they could control smoke exposure in their homes were
also more likely to have a no-smoking policy.
Secondhand smoke has been linked to an increased risk of asthma, ear and
lung infections and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in children. Half
to two-thirds of all children in the United States under age 5 may be exposed
to secondhand smoke in the home, according to a 1992 Environmental Protection
Agency report.
“Short of smoking cessation, eliminating smoking in the home is
the best strategy to reduce most infant exposure,” Sockrider and
colleagues say.
The study included 325 women who had taken part in a smoking
cessation program during their pregnancies. Sockrider and colleagues
interviewed
them five times during their infants’ first year to find out whether
the mothers, their partners, other household members or visitors were
allowed to smoke in the home.
Using data supplied by the mothers, the researchers calculated the average
number of hours per day the infants were exposed to secondhand smoke. Some
families also had a nicotine detector installed in their homes for two
weeks to confirm exposure reports.
The mothers’ reports of infant exposure generally
agreed with the data collected by the monitors, although not all families
were monitored.
Infants in the 325 homes were exposed to an average of 1.6 hours per
day at age 6 months and 1.3 hours per day when they were a year old.
The study was supported by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
