Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Article
  • Published:

Environmental tobacco smoke exposure in children: parental perception of smokiness at home and other factors associated with urinary cotinine in preschool children

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 14, pages 330–336 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Parental smoking behavior at home and sociodemographic variables may influence exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in children. A sample of 115 preschool children aged 3–6 years was enrolled in this study. ETS exposure was evaluated through a questionnaire about parents' smoking behavior and determinations of urinary cotinine — a biomarker of exposure — in children. Bivariate and multiple regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between the smoking behavior of each parent at home, sociodemographic factors and cotinine levels in children. The parental perception of smokiness in the home was significantly associated with urinary cotinine in children (r-partial coefficient=0.324; P<0.002). The father's education, mother's smoking status, and day of the week when urine was sampled (Tuesday) were also independently associated with levels of cotinine. These four variables explained 26.4% of the variance in the cotinine levels of children. In designing educational programs to reduce passive smoking among children, it is necessary to take into account those factors related with cotinine levels in children. Our results support the influence of the mothers' smoking status, the fathers' educational level, and the day of the week of sampling on cotinine in children. The perception of parents (smokers and nonsmokers) about the smokiness in the home could also be a useful indicator of the cotinine in children exposed to environmental tobacco smoke in the household.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aligne C.A., and Stoddard J.J. Tobacco and children. An economic evaluation of the medical effects of parental smoking. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 1997: 151: 648–653.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bahçeciler N.N., Barlan I.B., Nuhoglu Y., and Basaran M.M. Parental smoking behavior and the urinary cotinine levels of asthmatic children. J Asthma 1999: 36: 171–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bakoula C.G., Kafritsa Y.J., Kavadias G.D., Haley N.J., and Matsaniotis N.S. Factors modifying exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in children (Athens, Greece). Cancer Cause Control 1997: 8: 73–76.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Benowitz N.L. Cotinine as a biomarker of environmental tobacco smoke exposure. Epidemiol Rev 1996: 18: 188–204.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Callais F., Momas I., Roche D., Gauvin S., Reungoat P., and Zmirou D. Questionnaire or objective assessment for studying exposure to tobacco smoke among asthmatic and healthy children: the French VESTA study. Prev Med 2003: 36: 108–113.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chilmonczyk B.A., Salmun L.M., Megathlin K.N., Neveux L.M., Palomaki G.E., and Knight G.J., et al. Association between exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and exacerbations of asthma in children. N Engl J Med 1993: 328: 1665–1669.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cook G.C., Wincup P.H., Jarvis M.J., Strachan D.P., Papacosta O., and Bryant A. Passive exposure to tobacco smoke in children aged 5–7 years: individual, family, and community factors. Br Med J 1994: 308: 384–389.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dell'Orco V., Forastiere F., Agabiti N., Corbo G.M., Pistelli R., and Pacifici R., et al. Household and community determinants of exposure to involuntary smoking: a study of urinary cotinine in children and adolescents. Am J Epidemiol 1995: 142: 419–427.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Henderson F.W., Reid H.F., Morris R., Wang O.L., Hu P.C., and Helms R.W. Home air nicotine levels and urinary cotinine excretion in preschool children. Am Rev Respir Dis 1989: 140: 197–201.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Irvine L., Crombie I.K., Clark R.A., Slane P.W., Goodman K.E., and Feyerabend C., et al. What determines level of passive smoking in children with asthma? Thorax 1997: 52: 766–769.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hovell M.F., Zakarian J.M., Wahlgren D.R., Matt G.E., and Emmons K.M. Reported measures of environmental tobacco smoke exposure: trials and tribulations. Tob Control 2000: 9 (Suppl 3): III22–28.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Jarvis M.J., Strachan D.P., and Feyerabend C. Determinants of passive smoking in children in Edinburgh, Scotland. Am J Public Health 1992: 82: 1225–1229.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jordaan E.R., Ehrlich R.I., and Potter P. Environmental tobacco smoke exposure in children: household and community determinants. Arch Environ Health 1999: 54: 319–327.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Manino D.M., Caraballo R., and Benowitz N. Repace J. Predictors of cotinine levels in US children: data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Chest 2001: 120: 718–724.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oddoze C., Dubus J.C., Badier M., Thirion X., Pauli A.M., and Pastor J., et al. Urinary cotinine and exposure to parental smoking in a population of children with asthma. Clin Chem 1999: 45: 505–509.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ownby D.R., Johnson C.C., and Peterson E.L. Passive cigarette smoke exposure of infants: importance of nonparental sources. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2000: 154: 1237–1241.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson E.L., Johnson C.C., and Ownby D.R. Use of urinary cotinine and questionnaires in the evaluation of infant exposure to tobacco smoke in epidemiologic studies. J Clin Epidemiol 1997: 50: 917–923.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Preston A.M., Ramos L.J., Calderon C., and Sahai H. Exposure of Puerto Rican children to environmental tobacco smoke. Prev Med 1997: 26: 1–7.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Seifert J.A., Ross C.A., and Norris J.M. Validation of a five-question survey to assess a child's exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. Ann Epidemiol 2002: 12: 273–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Center for Disease Control. Cigarette smoking among adults — United States, 1993. MMWR 1994: 43: 926–948.

  • US Environmental Protection Agency. Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, 1992.

  • Winkelstein M.L., Tarzian A., and Wood R.A. Parental smoking behavior and passive smoke exposure in children with asthma. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 1997: 78: 419–423.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization Division of Noncommunicable Diseases. Tobacco Free Initiative. International consultation on environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and child health. Consultation Report. WHO, Geneva, 1999.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Granada, Spain

    Dolores Jurado, Carmen Muñoz & Milagros Fernández-Crehuet

  2. Department of Statistics, University of Granada, Spain

    Juan De Dios Luna

Authors
  1. Dolores Jurado
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Carmen Muñoz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Juan De Dios Luna
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Milagros Fernández-Crehuet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dolores Jurado.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jurado, D., Muñoz, C., Luna, J. et al. Environmental tobacco smoke exposure in children: parental perception of smokiness at home and other factors associated with urinary cotinine in preschool children. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 14, 330–336 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jea.7500329

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jea.7500329

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links