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A study in the Journal of Adolescent Health suggests that teens exposed to secondhand smoke (SHS) may be at increased risk for failing tests at school.

Lead author Bradley Collins, Ph.D., assistant professor of public health and director of the Health Behavior Research Clinic at Temple University, commented on the study's findings: "Our retrospective study suggests that in adolescents, secondhand smoke exposure could interfere with academic test performance."

Researchers found that exposure to SHS at home decreased the odds of passing standardized achievement tests by 30 percent in 16- and 18-year-olds, after accounting for other known risk factors such as socioeconomic status, gender, prenatal exposure to smoking and active smoking during adolescence.

According to study authors, smoking prevalence is similar in the United Kingdom and the United States. Approximately 10 to 15 percent of women of childbearing age are smokers, and up to 60 percent of children may be exposed to smoke at home.

Dr. Collins commented on parental responsibility: "It's important that we help smoking parents learn how to reduce their children's exposure to secondhand smoke, a goal that can be achieved without requiring the parent to immediately quit smoking, although that's the ultimate goal for the health of the entire family."

(Source: www.sciencedaily.com)

Labels: second hand smoke, testing

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A new study by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine indicates that secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure may be a health concern for many college students. The study, funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, is the first to provide evidence of high rates of SHS exposure among college students in the United States.

Mark Wolfson, Ph.D., lead author on the study and professor and section head for the Section on Society and Health in the Department of Social Science and Health Policy, commented on the study findings:

"It is well-known that there are some serious health issues surrounding secondhand smoke. ... While some college campuses are smoke free, others have virtually no restrictions on smoking, not even in the residence halls. There is a growing national movement to move away from that, but it still very much varies by campus. In this first study to evaluate SHS exposure among college students, we were really kind of floored to see how many, and how frequently, students are exposed to it."

The study included survey data collected from 4,223 undergraduate college students from 10 North Carolina universities. Approximately 83 percent of survey participants reported having been exposed to SHS at least once in the seven days preceding the survey. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), SHS contains approximately 250 chemicals that are either toxic or carcinogenic and is estimated to be responsible for 3,000 deaths each year from lung cancer and 35,000 deaths annually from coronary disease. The study will appear in the July 23 issue of Nicotine & Tobacco Research, a publication of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco.

(Source: www.sciencedaily.com)

Labels: second hand smoke

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