LONDON, June 30 (UPI) -- A genetic defect involved in detoxification may increase the chances of developing childhood asthma from secondhand smoke, German researchers have found.
A defect associated with glutathione S transferase, or GST -- an enzyme involved in detoxifying the effects of airborne secondhand smoke -- leaves schoolchildren with smoking parents more likely to develop respiratory problems than those kids whose parents do not smoke.
The study of more than 3,000 German schoolchildren found kids with a defect involving the GSTM1 gene were five times more likely to have asthma, five times more likely to wheeze and nine times more likely to have shortness of breath if they had smoking parents.
These children were also three times more likely to have had a wheezing problem at some period in their lives.
Children with another genetic defect involving GST had significantly worse lung functioning than children whose mothers did not smoke.
The researchers said kids with these genetic defects run a much higher risk for asthma and associated symptoms if exposed to secondhand smoke in early childhood and in the womb.
