Asthma Handbook

Passive Smoking

If you smoke and you have a child with asthma, please bear in mind that the best thing in the world you can do for that child is to give up smoking. It beats expensive holiday, toys, clothes and outings. Children brought up in homes where the parents smoke are much more prone to respiratory diseases - including asthma - than children who live in smoke-free homes. Their lung function and growth is not as good as children whose parents do not smoke. Living in a house where the air is polluted with tobacco smoke will certainly aggravate the condition of an asthma sufferer. Most people put good health as a requirement above and before anything else. This must surely also be the case for a child who has virtually all his life still ahead of him.

Women who smoke during pregnancy increase the risk of their child developing asthma. The foetus of a mother who smokes develops less well in the womb than that of a mother who does not. Babies of mothers who smoke are usually born smaller than those of mothers who don't. Cot deaths have also been linked to passive smoking. You midwife or health visitor can give you information on this.

Passive smoking is an insidious problem to tackle. A National Asthma Campaign survey has shown that cigarette smoke is capable of causing asthma attacks in 83 percent of asthma sufferers. Only 15 percent of the smoke produced by a cigarette is inhaled by the smoker. The rest streams out or is puffed out, and is inhaled by those in the company of the smoker. Fortunately, these days smoking is seen as an anti-social habut and increasingly banned from public places. Do try and avoid venues where smoking is allowed whenever you can. Obviously this is going to be impossible in places like pubs, bars, discos and parties. It would be a shame to miss out on social gatherings of this kind, so if you are planning on being in a smoky atmosphere, make sure you take your reliever with you. It may also be that you will need to step up your preventer treatment for a day or two afterwards. In any event, keep an extra watch on your asthma. If your asthma is bad, think again before spending time in a very smoky atmosphere. Unless it is unavoidable, or very important to you, it may not be worth the possible consequences.

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