SMOKING : SLOWLY TAKING YOUR BREATH AWAY
SECONDHAND SMOKE EXPOSURE IN CHILDREN : NEW CHALLENGES FOR PRACTITIONERS
AUTHOR Scott Bickel , MD
Despite downward trends in tobacco use in the US , smoke exposure in children continues to be a troubling public health dilemma with significant clinical implications . While tobacco smoke exposure historically has been the area of greatest concern , practitioners must also screen for and address other increasingly common exposures including “ vapor ” or aerosols from e-cigarette ( or related products , referred to by e-cigarettes for simplicity throughout this article ) use and marijuana smoke exposure , as decriminalization becomes more prevalent . The COVID-19 pandemic has added another layer of complexity as smokers are at increased risk for severe disease , and this increased risk may extend to those with secondhand exposure . Understanding the risks to children posed by these exposures and resources to help address these issues with families is crucial .
Kentucky continues to lag behind other states in smoking-related metrics with 23.4 % of Kentucky adults reporting using cigarettes
( 2020 data ) compared to 14 % nationally in 2020 . 1 While rates of teenage cigarette smoking have declined over the past several decades , alarmingly this has been replaced by high levels of e-cigarette use . In 2019 , 26.1 % of high school students in Kentucky reported using these products . 1 Data from 2021 , just released from the CDC , shows a decline in high school use of e-cigarettes nationwide to 11 %, but this dramatic reduction may be in part due to methodological differences with the survey being conducted in different settings ( such as home ) during the COVID-19 pandemic . 2 Marijuana is the most frequently used illegal ( at the federal level ) drug in the US with 8.3 % of the population ages 12 and up reporting use in the past month in 2015 3 and 35.7 % of high school seniors reported use in the prior year in 2019 . 4 These numbers may increase as more states move towards legalization of its recreational use .
Approximately 38 % of children ages 3-11 are exposed to tobacco smoke nationwide , and there is no safe level of exposure . 5 It is well established that secondhand tobacco smoke exposure is linked to numerous detrimental health outcomes in children . Exposed infants and children are at higher risk for Sudden Infant
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