Environmental tobacco smoke increases school absenteeism.Gilliland FD, Berhane K, Islam T, Wenten M, Rappaport E, Avol E, Gauderman W J, McConnell R, Peters JM. 2003. Environmental tobacco smoke environmental tobacco smoke (ETS/passive smoke), n the gaseous by-product of burning tobacco products, including but not limited to commercially manufactured cigarettes and cigars; contains toxic elements harmful to the health of adults and children and absenteeism related to respiratory illness in schoolchildren schoolchildren school npl → écoliers mpl; (at secondary school) → collégiens mpl; lycéens mpl schoolchildren school . Am J Epidemiol 157:861-869. Research has shown that exposure to household environmental tobacco smoke (ETS ETS Educational Testing Service (nonprofit private educational testing and measurement organization) ETS Emergency Telecommunications Service ETS Electronic Trading System ETS Engineering (&) Technical Services ) is responsible for respiratory illnesses among young children; however, the ETS-associated morbidity for school-age children is less well defined. Previous research by a team including NIEHS NIEHS National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH, DHHS) grantees Frank Gilliland, William J. Gauderman, and John Peters of the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission , has shown that asthma-related school absenteeism is a major problem in Southern California, accounting for a large portion of all absences. To determine the extent to which ETS exposure might be implicated im·pli·cate tr.v. im·pli·cat·ed, im·pli·cat·ing, im·pli·cates 1. To involve or connect intimately or incriminatingly: evidence that implicates others in the plot. 2. in school absenteeism, these researchers and colleagues investigated the relationship between ETS exposure, asthma status, and respiratory illness-related school absences in 1,932 fourth-grade schoolchildren from 12 Southern California communities. At study entry, more than 18% of the children were exposed to household ETS. Overall, ETS exposure was associated with a 27% increase in risk of school absences related to respiratory illness. Children living in a household with two or more smokers were at a substantially higher risk (75%) of such absences. Children with asthma were at the greatest increased risk of school absences related to respiratory illness. When exposed to one smoker, the risk for children with asthma was 2.35 times higher, and when exposed to two or more smokers, the risk increased to 4.45 times higher. Children who were exposed to ETS also had higher rates of absences related to all types of illness. This study demonstrates that ETS exposure is associated with increased respiratory illness-related school absenteeism among school-age children, with much higher risks for children with asthma. Approximately 9 million children in the United States suffer from asthma, and related school absences cause millions of lost work hours for parents who must stay home to care for their children. This research shows that ETS plays a major part in some of these absences and points out the need for smoking cessation smoking cessation Public health Temporary or permanent halting of habitual cigarette smoking; withdrawal therapies–eg, hypnosis, psychotherapy, group counseling, exposing smokers to Pts with terminal lung CA and nicotine chewing gum are often ineffective. programs, especially for the parents of children with asthma. |
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