Secondhand smoke or passive smoking can put babies, especially those born prematurely, at higher risks of many childhood respiratory diseases like asthma. Secondhand smoke or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is defined as a mixture of the smoke from a burning cigarette and the smoke released by a smoker.
According to the American Academy of Otolaryngology -Head and Neck Surgery, nearly 26 percent of American adults are smokers and between 50 and 67 percent of children, below five years live with at least one smoker.
The smoke produced from cigarettes can stay in the air more than two hours. Secondhand smoke contains more than 4,000 toxic chemicals and breathing smoke -filled air brings in many health concerns and leads to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), asthma, meningitis, cough, cold and middle ear diseases and even cancer.
For the current study, researchers conducted some experiments on dead human fetuses (with a gestational age between 18 and 20 weeks). Smooth muscle cells from the airways of these fetuses were subjected to different levels of cigarette smoke exposure. Gel analysis was applied to find out the changes.
The researchers found the changes in the cells similar to inflammation in asthma. While low levels of smoke led to these changes, high levels destroyed the cell.
According to the researchers, these changes can narrow the airway, leading to breathing problems in babies, particularly in premature babies.
"Due to their highly immature lungs, premature babies often require high levels of additional oxygen in the neonatal intensive care unit, which can put these babies at higher risk for lifelong problems with lung diseases," study author Dr. Elizabeth Vogel, of the department of anesthesiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said in a news release.
Results of the study were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA).
