Effects of passive smoking on lung growth in children

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of passive smoking on functional lung growth in children and adolescents. It was hypothesized that passive smoking might reduce lung function growth, especially in susceptible children. The assumption was that those most susceptible would be children who started with low lung function, as it had been shown that they had slower growth of lung function, and start to decline earlier. There were 138 non‐Hispanic Caucasian children and adolescents, ages 5 through 15, who had at least three satisfactory longitudinal lung function tests over a 13 year period in the Tucson epidemiological study of airway obstructive diseases. Those who started in childhood with normal function did not show any effect of passive smoking, nor did females who started with low lung function. Males starting with low lung function whose parents smoked showed definite changes. Their forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV₁) grew even more slowly between ages 13 through 16, related primarily to continuous parental smoking. They also had higher rates of decline for FEV₁ to forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio and maximum flow at 50% vital capacity to FVC ratios than either the low function group without passive smoking or the normal function groups. This was independent of any symptoms or diagnoses present in this male low function group.