Press release - 1 June 2009

Local NHS asks parents to smoke outdoors to protect children

Each year more than 70 children under five in Brighton and Hove are admitted to hospital with illnesses resulting from passive smoking. If parents smoke at home there is a 50% increase in risk that their child will develop asthma. It is estimated that every year in Brighton and Hove there are 21 new cases of asthma as a consequence of parents’ smoking.

Inhaling second-hand smoke increases the risk of children developing:

pneumonia
bronchitis
asthma attacks
middle ear disease
decreased lung function
sudden infant death syndrome.

Parents who smoke at home are urged to consider the effect on their child’s health. Indoor smoke lingers in the air for 2 and a half hours.

Making a home smoke-free by smoking outdoors is a simple, practical step. To make a smoke-free pledge register at the Smokefree East Sussex website call 0800 073 1095 or email info@smokefreeeastsussex.org.uk.

Ends.

Notes for news editors:

NHS Brighton and Hove is responsible for championing improvements to health and NHS health services across the city by helping people live healthily and stay well, making sure they get high quality health care when they are unwell, engaging people and communities in plans and decisions and giving leadership on health and healthcare to the NHS and other organisations in the city.

Babies and children exposed to a smoky atmosphere are more likely to need hospital care in the first year of life4 and are also off sick from school more often due to coughs, colds and wheezes.

Smoking near children is a cause of serious respiratory illnesses such as bronchitis and pneumonia. 6 In households where parents smoke, young children have a 72% increased risk of respiratory illnesses.

Smoking near children increases the chance of asthma attacks and increases the risk of other breathing problems such as wheezing, coughing, phlegm & breathlessness. 6 Second-hand smoke from parents is also causally linked to developing asthma itself; there is a 50% increase in risk.

Parental smoking also increases the chance of acute and chronic middle ear disease in children - which can cause deafness. There is a 40% increase in risk.

For sources contact rachel.young@bhcpct.nhs.uk