CRJ Canadian Respiratory Journal 1198-2241 Pulsus Group Inc 178789 10.1155/2007/178789 Original Article Asthma is not Enough: Continuation of Smoking Among Parents with an Asthmatic Child Liem Joel J 1 Kozyrskyj Anita L 2 4 Benoit Cecilia M 3 Becker Allan B becker@cc.umanitoba.ca 1 4 1 Section of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Department of Pediatrics and Child Health Faculty of Medicine University of Manitoba Winnipeg Manitoba Canada umanitoba.ca 2 Department of Community Health Sciences Faculty of Medicine University of Manitoba Winnipeg Manitoba Canada umanitoba.ca 3 Department of Sociology University of Victoria Victoria British Columbia Canada uvic.ca 4 Manitoba Institute of Child Health University of Manitoba Winnipeg Manitoba Canada umanitoba.ca 2007 14 6 349 353 2007 Copyright © 2007 Hindawi Publishing Corporation. This open-access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (CC BY-NC) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits reuse, distribution and reproduction of the article, provided that the original work is properly cited and the reuse is restricted to noncommercial purposes.

BACKGROUND: Ideally, on diagnosis of asthma in a child, parents are counselled to decrease environmental tobacco smoke exposure to their children.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a diagnosis of asthma in children altered parental smoking behaviour toward a reduction in environmental tobacco smoke exposure.

METHODS: In 2002/2003, a survey was sent to 12,556 households with children born in 1995 in Manitoba. Parents were asked whether their seven-year-old child had asthma, and whether smokers were present in the home in 1995 and/or currently. The likelihood (OR) of a change in parental smoking behaviour was determined according to the presence of asthma in their child, a family history of asthma, the location of residence (rural or urban) and their socioeconomic status.

RESULTS: A total of 3580 surveys (28.5%) were returned. The overall prevalence of parental smoking in 1995 and 2002/2003 was 32.2% and 23.4%, respectively (31.9%/23.2% and 32.3%/23.6% in rural and urban environments, respectively). In 2002/2003, the prevalence of parental smoking in homes with asthmatic children was 29.8%. Parents were not more likely to quit smoking (OR=1.01, 95% CI 0.66 to 1.54) or smoke outside (OR=1.02, 95% CI 0.56 to 1.83) if their child developed asthma. Parental smoking behaviour (quit smoking or smoked outside) did not change if there was a positive family history of asthma (OR=1.04, 95% CI 0.78 to 1.37), if they lived in a rural or urban location (OR=0.94, 95% CI 0.71 to 1.23), or if they were from a low- or high-income household (OR=1.12, 95% CI 0.85 to 1.47).

CONCLUSIONS: The likelihood of altering parental smoking behaviour occurred independently of a diagnosis of asthma in their child, a family history of asthma, the location of residence and their socioeconomic status.

 Asthma Children Environmental tobacco smoke Parents Smoking cessation