Smoking bans decline from premature birth and asthma

National smoking bans significantly reduce the number of premature births and childhood asthma

03/28/2014

Non-smoker protection laws reduce the risk of premature birth and severe asthma in children. This was the result of an international study that examined for the first time the effects of smoking bans on children and unborn children. The scientists also showed that the positive effects on health already appear after one year. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), only 16 percent of the world's population currently benefit from anti-smoking laws.

Significant positive effects on children's health measurable after only one year of smoking ban
Smoking is harmful to health and causes around five to seven million deaths each year, resulting in succumbing to complications such as lung cancer or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). 600,000 people die because of exposure to secondhand smoke. These numbers speak a clear language. Many states have since responded by adopting national smoker protection laws, including in the form of smoking bans in public buildings. However, according to the WHO, the number of countries with such legislation is far too low. Although 177 nations have ratified the WHO's Tobacco Convention since 2005, only 16 percent of the world's population is currently protected by statutory smoking bans.

The effects of such smoking bans on adults have been studied in several studies, but a scientific study of the health consequences for children and unborn children was lacking. This task was undertaken by an international research team and published its results in the renowned medical journal „According to the researchers, smoking bans have already measurable positive effects on the health of children and unborn children after one year: Non-smoker protection laws have reduced both the number of premature births and the treatment of severe asthma in children by ten percent each.

„Our research shows that smoking bans are an effective way to protect our children's health, "study lead author Jasper Been of the University of Edinburgh told the British daily „The Guardian“. According to the researchers, about 40 percent of children worldwide are exposed to tobacco smoke on a regular basis.

Protect children and unborn children through smoking bans
For their meta-analysis, the researchers selected eleven studies from 2008 to 2013, which had certain strict scientific criteria. Of these, six were from Europe and five from North America. The researchers had data from a total of 2.5 million births and almost 250,000 clinically-treated childhood asthma attacks available for their study.

Premature birth as well as childhood asthma are associated with smoking during pregnancy and secondhand smoke. Worldwide, more than 11 percent of newborns are born too early and between seven and ten percent of children suffer from asthma, the most common chronic childhood disease, the researchers said.

„In addition to the well-known benefits for adult health, our study clearly demonstrates that smoking bans offer significant benefits to prenatal and child health, "said Been.

Other positive effects of smoking bans are also a reduction in health expenditure and a decline in the number of smoking pregnant women and passive smoking children, which has already been proven by previous studies. Before the introduction of legal smoking bans, some experts feared that banning smoking in public buildings could increase the number of households smoking.

Study Finds statistical correlation between smoking bans and decrease in premature birth as well as childhood asthma
However, Professor Aziz Sheikh of the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands and his team acknowledge that their study results are not fully applicable to all countries. Since no data from low-income states was included in the meta-analysis, the effects of non-smoker protection legislation in these countries may be different, especially as children's health is poorer in poorer countries than in countries with good medical care, researchers said. In addition, the study does not clearly show to what extent the smoking ban is the cause of the decline in premature births and asthma attacks in children. Thus, the effects could also be due to the smoking behavior of pregnant women or other factors. However, a static connection has been substantiated by the meta-analysis.

„Smoking bans are associated with a significant reduction in premature birth and hospital-treated asthma. Along with the adult health benefits, this study supports WHO recommendations to create smoke-free zones“, the researchers summarize. (Ag)