Pre- and postnatal exposure of children to tobacco smoke during the first four years of life – observations of the authors

Abstract

The study comprised 318 children in their first four years of life, treated for various medical conditions. The examined children were divided into two groups, Group 1--children exposed to Tobacco smoke--and Group 2--a control group with children from non-smoking families. History data were obtained on the basis of a specially designed questionnaire, used by the doctor in an individual conversation with parent. In each third child from the group 1 cotinine concentration in urine was assayed by the method of high performance liquid chromatography-UV-VIS and the cotinine/creatinine ratio was calculated. RESULTS OF STUDY: Results demonstrated environmental exposure to tobacco smoke in 173 children (Group 1). Out of them 31.2% were the children whose mothers had smoked also during pregnancy (Subgroup A). The other 119 children from Group 1 were accounted to Subgroup B, i.e., children, where other household members had been smoking cigarettes. A comparative group comprised 143 children from non-smoking families. The results demonstrated then that 17% of all the examined children were those, exposed to tobacco smoke effects already in their foetal life, predisposing them to prematurity and low birth weight. Moreover, it was observed that the young age and lower education level of their parents, together with worse housing conditions, may suggest a predisposing character and role of the mentioned factors.

Use of urinary cotinine and cotinine/creatinine ratio as a biomarker of environmental tobacco exposure

“…Urinary cotinine levels were found to be statistically higher in children whose parents were smokers, female gender, whose father had a low educational level, and who had 3 or fewer rooms in their house. Similar to our study, Kamer et al reported that the younger age of parents, lower education level, and poor living conditions increase exposure to smoking at home 25 . In another study, likewise, ETS exposure was higher among adolescents in Kuwait, especially those with families with poor socioeconomic status and low parental education levels 26 .…”

Number of <i>Streptococcus mutans</i> and <i>Lactobacillus</i> in saliva versus the status of cigarette smoking, considering duration of smoking and number of cigarettes smoked daily

“…Cotinine concentration in the saliva is related to the number of cigarettes smoked. Cotinine concentration in both in non-stimulated and stimulated saliva obtains similar values [5,6,7,8,9,10].…”