The European Journal of Public Health Advance Access originally published online on June 14, 2007
The European Journal of Public Health 2008 18(1):55-62; doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckm053
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Parental smoking behaviour and effects of tobacco smoke on children's health in Finland and Russia
Timo T. Hugg1, Maritta S. Jaakkola2,3, Risto O. Ruotsalainen4, Vadim J. Pushkarev5 and Jouni J.K. Jaakkola2,6
1 South Karelia Allergy and Environment Institute, Lääkäritie 15, 55330 Tiuruniemi, Finland
2 Institute of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, The University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
3 Department of Respiratory Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
4 Director of the Indoor Air Quality Clinic, Allergy and Asthma Union, Paciuksenkatu 19, 00270 Helsinki, Finland
5 Municipal Hospital of Svetogorsk, Pogranichnaya street 13, Svetogorsk, Leningradskaya oblast, 188990, Russia
6 Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Correspondence: Prof. Jouni Jaakkola, tel: +44-121-4146023, fax: +44-121-4146217, e-mail: j.jaakkola{at}bham.ac.uk
Received February 9, 2007 , accepted May 15, 2007
Background: There is little information on potential differences in smoking behaviour of parents between Finland and Russia and on the effects of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure on allergic and respiratory diseases among Finnish and Russian children. The aim of the study was to compare the smoking behaviour of parents and school children and to assess the relations of tobacco smoke exposure during pregnancy and childhood with occurrence of allergic diseases and respiratory infections among school children. Methods: We conducted a population-based cross-sectional study in the neighbour towns across the border of Imatra in Finland and Svetogorsk in Russia. The study population consisted of 512 Finnish and 581 Russian school children aged 7–16 years (response rate 79%). Results: Children's tobacco smoke exposure differed markedly between Finland and Russia. The risk of asthma was particularly related to high maternal smoking exposure during pregnancy (adjusted OR 3.51, 95% CI 1.00–12.3), infancy (3.34, 1.23–9.07) and currently (3.27, 1.26–8.48), and the risk of common cold was related to high combined parental smoking during infancy (1.83, 1.06–3.17) in Finnish children. Among Russian children allergic conjunctivitis was related to maternal smoking during infancy (4.53, 1.49–13.8) and currently (2.82, 1.07–7.44). Conclusions: Smoking behaviour of parents and ETS exposure during childhood differed markedly between Finland and Russia. Asthma was particularly increased in relation to high exposure to maternal smoking in Finland. The results suggest that more efforts should be directed to reducing tobacco smoke exposure of children in both Finland and Russia. (250 words)
Keywords: allergies, asthma, children, respiratory infections, smoking behaviour, tobacco smoke exposure
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