Pediatricians must do more to persuade parents not to smoke

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Parental smoking ought to be a key concern for pediatricians.
Children's health is affected if their parents smoke. In the USA, kids have six extra days of school through sickness when there is a smoker in the house; they are more likely to have wheezing, asthma and bronchitis. Researchers at the University of Toledo, Ohio, think pediatricians have an important role to play in protecting their young patients. Of the 152 pediatricians surveyed, 80 per cent said they had talked to parents about tobacco use and advised smokers to quit. But there the involvement ended. Only 16 per cent discussed nicotine replacement with parents. Yet 85 per cent of parents felt this would be an acceptable intervention from their child's doctor.

One quarter of the pediatricians said smoking cessation counseling was a waste of time, but 39 per cent thought it valuable. And 80 per cent agreed that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in the home is a health risk for children. The researchers say that even if only a handful of parents quit smoking as a result of the pediatrician's help, it would be a valuable result for their children. Therefore, smoking cessation should go higher up the pediatrician's agenda.

Source
American Journal of Health Behavior August 2006 Volume 30 Number 5