Kids who are exposed to secondhand smoke in their home are at increased risk of developing common mental and behavioral disorder by fifty percent. Secondhand or passive smoking is already known to raise the risk of asthma, meningitis, middle-ear infection and cot death among children.
In latest study researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health analyzed more than fifty thousand results from US children’s health survey conducted between 2007 and 2008. Parents those mostly involved with childcare were asked if a doctor or teacher had told them that their child had a learning disability, ADHD or conduct disorder.
Those parents were also asked about their smoking habits. The study showed that six percent of children under the age of twelve who were exposed to secondhand smoking at home were at higher risk. These adolescents were fifty percent more prone to develop neurobehavioral disorders such as a learning disability by eight percent, ADHD by six percent or another conduct disorders by three and half percent.
These youngsters were more prone to having undergone counseling. Even though the team has found a strong relationship between passive smoking and neurobehavioral disorders but they have not proved that one has caused the other. The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that boys and children aged between nine and eleven were at the higher risk.
According to lead author Simon Radicot they found that kids who had never smoked and were exposed to tobacco use were more prone to hold positive beliefs about the killer habit. These are the kids who are more prone to begin smoking as teenagers.
Children exposed to the same amounts of secondhand smoke as adults absorb higher doses of nicotine, explained co-author Jennifer J. McGrath. Early findings suggest that secondhand smoke exposure could possibly trigger addiction in the brain prior to kids actually start smoking themselves, added McGrath. The study was published in the journal Pediatrics.
It could relieve the burden on children’s mental health services. Dr Gregory Connolly one of the study co-author concluded, health and economic burdens might be reduced considerably if voluntary smoke-free home policies are introduced rigorously.