Smoking parents affect children's lungs

UTRECHT, Netherlands, May 22 (UPI) -- Children of smokers who don't show any signs of respiratory problems may still have damaged lung function later in life, according to a Dutch study.

"Everyone knows that children of smokers have more respiratory problems -- more puffing, wheezing, cases of pneumonia -- but until now we haven't known if lung function is impaired in children of smokers who don't have any respiratory complaints or diagnosed lung problems," Dr. Bert Arets of the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands said in a statement.

The study of 244 children ages 4 to 12 without any history of lung or airway disease was divided into four groups according to the smoking pattern of their parents: never smoked, smoked after birth but not during pregnancy, smoked during pregnancy but not after birth, and smoked both before and after birth.

The study found that children of smoking parents had significantly reduced lung function, similar to that seen in smokers. Smoking after birth appeared to be more harmful than smoking during pregnancy alone, according to the findings presented at the American Thoracic Society International Conference in San Francisco.