Childhood Smoking more Common and Leading them to Increased Respiratory Conditions
Oct 16, 2019
On March 23rd, 2012, Medical News Today released information regarding a recent study regarding smoking and 4th grade children. The study involved 428 fourth graders and 453 parents in seven urban and seven rural schools in Georgia. At first, the study found that more than 75% of these school children has nicotine breakdown in their saliva, most likely resulting from second-hand smoke. However, after making more observations, the researchers found the following:
Urban 4th grade children were more likely to be smokers than rural 4th grade children, resulting in 14.9% of urban 4th grade children smoking versus 6.6% of rural 4th grade children
Urban 4th grade children also have more exposure to smokers than rural 4th grade according to the study, resulting in 79.6% of urban 4th grade children exposed versus 75.3% of rural 4th grade children exposed
Lastly, in a side study with 2,636 8th to 10th grade students in four rural Georgia schools, nearly 40% of white girls and 27% of white boys with wheezing or asthma symptoms claimed that they smoked, leaving the researchers worried for the effects of cigarettes on students
Lesson of the article: Child’s smoking is a lot more common than we think and is leading to an unwanted trend of more children with respiratory conditions