The study echoes findings of previous research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which looked at whether children had had severe asthma symptoms on more or less than 300 days per year, and found a strong correlation to parent smoking among those with more than 300 days.
"We used a different approach than the CDC, and looked at 90-day blocks of time corresponding to a season," says Cabana. "The only other factor that was associated with year-round symptoms was Medicaid insurance coverage."
Slish and Cabana note that their findings should provide even more reason for pediatricians, family physicians and nurses to broach the subject of smoking with the parents of any child diagnosed with asthma, and to steer parents who smoke toward resources that can help them quit.
"By addressing the issue directly, and reminding parents how second-hand smoke can affect their children, perhaps we can cut down on the number of kids having symptoms throughout the year," Cabana says.
"Even a very brief intervention with physicians encouraging patients to quit smoking has been shown to be successful," adds Clark.
Part of the PACE project is teaching physicians how to counsel asthmatic patients and their parents on avoiding asthma "triggers" -- substances in the air that can bring on an asthma attack or lesser symptoms. Triggers include dust, pollen, pet dander, stress, cockroach droppings, mold, air pollution, exercise, cold air -- and second-hand smoke. Some triggers, such as pollen, occur only during some times of the year, while others are present year-round and are mainly linked to indoor exposure.
The interviews conducted for the current study were part of the baseline data-gathering effort for the PACE project. Parents of young patients of participating doctors were interviewed at length about many factors. They were asked to recall the number of days during each three-month period of the last year that the
'"/>
Contact: Kara Gavin
kegavin@umich.edu
734-764-2220
University of Michigan Health System
4-May-2004