Research Examines Possible Link Between Second-Hand Smoke And Kids' Depression, Anxiety, ADHD

Children and teens who are exposed to second-hand smoke could be at greater risk of suffering from mental health disorders like depression, anxiety and ADHD, according to a new study that's among the first to closely examine the potential association between second-hand smoke and mental health.

Researchers writing in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, looked at nearly 3,000 children, aged 8 to 15. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, more than 60 percent of children between the ages of 3 and 11 are exposed to second-hand smoke.

Smoke exposure in the children (who were part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted from 2001 to 2004), was determined by looking at serum cotinine levels -- a marker used to show how much smoke has entered the body. The 3,000 participants were also screened for potential mental disorders using the National Institute of Mental Health's Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children questionnaire, which diagnoses for conditions included in DSM IV.

Ultimately, researchers found that higher serum cotinine levels were linked to symptoms associated with major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, ADHD and conduct disorder, which the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry defines as a group of chronic behavioral and emotional problems.

But as the Los Angeles Times points out, "none of those symptoms added up to a single diagnosis of a mental health disorder that could be linked with exposure to second-hand smoke in the children and teens in the study. "The study's authors themselves state that they were limited by their inability to control for psychiatric history, meaning, the fact that children with depressed mothers are more likely to have poor mental health.

Still, the research joins an increasing body of evidence showing how second-hand smoke negatively affects children's health. Last month, TIME reported that second-hand smoke exposure upped the risk of stillbirth in nonsmoking pregnant woman by 23 percent, and also increased the risk of congenital birth defects by 13 percent. The study's authors found that the most common source of second-hand smoke was the baby's father.

Comments

[OverseasVet]

10:46 PM on 04/08/2011

This is nothing more than junk science being used by an e-tabloid rag to sell ad space.

[StageRt]

11:07 AM on 04/07/2011

I have a problem with these reports. Do I doubt the science? No. Do I doubt 2nd hand smoke may have consequences? No
What I have a problem with is a scientific finding that 2nd hand smoke can cuse problems but a Legal standing that, in a Volkswagen Beetle with closed windows, a person can NOT get a 2nd hand 'high'.
One of them is lying. Is it the law and legal profession?
Probably.
While I applaud the reaction to 2nd hand smoke by Legislatures (to a point) it confuses me when they continue the double standard for the purposes of punishment over a little pot.
To be clear, I am a former smoker. I only used pot one time and that was 30 years ago. I didn't like it and have never used it again.
It's the duplicity that aggravates me.

[Beverly Bardwell Greis]

09:37 AM on 04/07/2011

Now I finally understand why my brain does not function normally- all of those cross-country car and overseas plane trips when I was a child, trying to exist in the smoky haze- that no doubt altered my brain structure. I could have been a mentally healthy genius! Whhhhhhhhhy!!!
Seriously- as a former pediatric nurse, it always amazed me how many parents refused to give up smoking- even though their kids suffered with asthma and other diseases exacerbate by smoke.

[VJSleight]

11:59 PM on 04/06/2011

Lungs were not made to have smoke in them, especially little ones that are still growing. Smoke that enters the lungs, goes very quickly to the brain--within 10 heartbeats--to a little brain that is still growing as well. With over 7000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, who really knows the damage that is being caused. We do know that the younger a person starts smoking, the more it changes the structure of the brain and the more likely that individual will be addicted to nicotine.

[Al Fahkrahnik]

10:20 PM on 04/06/2011

"none of those symptoms added up to a single diagnosis of a mental health disorder that could be linked with exposure to second-hand smoke in the children and teens in the study."

ANNNNDdddd....we're done.

[maxpost]

08:49 PM on 04/06/2011

I'm surprised the E-CIGARETTE hasn't been mentioned much on this thread (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/24/katherine-heigl-puffs-on-_n_839944.html). Not only does total absence of combustion (smoke) solve the sidestream-smoke problem, but you can probably let the child draw safely from a non-nicotinous cartridge on a one-time once-in-a-while basis to not feel left out. Hot burning overdoses will soon be ancient history.

[just another guy22]

08:10 PM on 04/06/2011

the numbers don.t mean a thing. 23 percent of what? 13 percent of what ? sounds like another scary scary BS story to me

[Ty Thompson]

07:48 PM on 04/06/2011

Important..those with a lower income generally have higher stress in their lives and high stress negatively affects quitting smoking. Lower income also means it's much more difficult to have a balanced diet, also, stress affects meal planning and leads to a higher likelihood of grabbing convenience foods. High stress in the home and dietary deficiencies are the leading causes of depression in children, has been for a very long time.
Congratulations, with this article you've made poverty immoral and the stress that comes with it as well.
Also, btw, allergies are much more prevalent in children that were not breast fed at least 6 months as their immune systems were not set up by colostrum and the fact that formula is nutritionally inferior to breast milk. Women in low income homes or the most part can not take leave because they must return to work much sooner and their children get almost exclusively formula.
Yes, ignore all the facts to make something a morality issue.

[llempart]

01:06 PM on 04/07/2011

There's a lot of stress that is associated with poor health! Not to mention, as someone that goes for months without smoking and then smokes a pack, I know that nicotine puts me more on edge. I become agitated much more easily when smoking then when not.

[Lightfoot Letters]

06:29 PM on 04/06/2011

"Children and teens who are exposed to second-hand smoke could be at greater risk of suffering from mental health disorders like depression, anxiety and ADHD, according to a new study that's among the first to closely examine the potential association between second-hand smoke and mental health. Researchers writing in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Huffington Post
"But as the Los Angeles Times points out, "none of those symptoms added up to a single diagnosis of a mental health disorder that could be linked with exposure to second-hand smoke in the children and teens in the study." Another instance of the authoritarian control freaks 'Blowing Smoke.' And, another reason for the 'Tax Man' to raise the tax on the poor !

[Debbiedoobie]

06:01 PM on 04/06/2011

My childhood and teen years were plagued with headaches from my mothers smoking and now my 5 year old can't be around her without getting headaches leading to ear infections. This stuff is not good. The smokers don't think they are causing any real danger with the second hand smoke or just live in denial and children just don't understand. Smoking should not be done around children.

[sushi27]

04:30 PM on 04/06/2011

Yeah, yeah, and smokers cause global warming too, yeah, that's it! Keep eating those big macs, driving those air polluting cars and guzzling alcohol like a fish, all while stomping out those horrible baby killing smokers - the root of all evil.

[lilsy]

05:46 PM on 04/06/2011

Thank you!
I'd like to see a study on what automobile pollution does to mental health.
Though it might be difficult to find a group of people that live in a place with clean air.
I'll take the second hand smoking issue more seriously when non smokers stop driving their cars.

[AmyInNH]

09:09 PM on 04/06/2011

My statistics professor in college said to beware of correlation painted as cause and effect. Quite possibly nervous, anxious children are naturally occurring from nervous, anxious smoking parents.

[stape45]

05:50 PM on 04/06/2011

You could eat ten BigMacs per day, and it won’t clog MY arteries. If you drink a gallon of booze every day, it won’t affect my heart or my liver. BUT - if YOUR smoke is in the air that enters MY lungs…..get the idea yet?

[lilsy]

06:56 PM on 04/06/2011

What if your air is already polluted?
I'm not a smoker and I gave up my car to ride a bike. I changed my life. I walk my talk.
I moved 3000 miles to get out of air pollution.
But I don't blame smokers for minor air problems when everyone I know drives a car.
Makes no sense to me.
Take out your anger somewhere else.

[sushi27]

06:25 AM on 04/07/2011

What are you babbling about? Smoking isn't allowed in most public places, so how is it entering YOUR lungs? But if you drive your gas guzzling car, and stoke up your Weber in the summer, your smoke IS getting in my lungs.....get the idea yet?

[Iatros78]

03:15 PM on 04/06/2011

The "know nothings" who post here have almost certainly not read the actual study (you have to have a subscription to the AMA magazine or pay money to access it). Therefore they have no scientific basis to dispute the findings. If they did, they would be able to produce methodological flaws in the study. This, of course, they don't do. Their opinions, therefore, are scientifically invalid. Rational people do not react to scientific studies in this way.

The mental and behavioral effects of involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke have only recently been the subject of scientific study. Much more research remains to be done. The deleterious health effects of tobacco smoke, however, are scientifically established and accepted by the medical community. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke causes cancer, heart disease, lung disease and SIDS in nonsmokers.

Children should be protected from forced exposure to secondhand smoke- everywhere.

[Stephen Shipley]

09:30 PM on 04/06/2011

Umm...excuse me. I don't have a subscription to AMA, I haven't read the article, and I am not a physician. I have, however, taken ELEMENTARY (and secondary) statistics, and ALL of these links of smoking to illness, including the infamous Surgeon General's Report, are CORRELATIONAL, NOT SCIENTIFIC> That so many have bought into this tells us just how willing we are to forsake science for a popular viewpoint. Please point me to a single study that establishes causality scientifically and I'll eat my words. In the meantime, I'll stick to science, you stick to your magical thinking.

[Iatros78]

11:21 PM on 04/06/2011

Wow, I didn't know someone could take down the entire medical, scientific, and public health establishments with just two courses in statistics! And you didn't even have to read the journal article to know that it is a fraud! You might want to do some more studying, especially on the topic of epidemiology. As Harvard medical historian, Alan Brandt, has noted, research on the health effects of tobacco smoke constitute one of the most extensively studied topics in medicine. By the way, even the tobacco companies don't deny the health effects of tobacco smoke anymore- not since their own research proving its harm was divulged to the public. Perhaps Big Tobacco doesn't know about correlation, either. Maybe their scientists needed to take some classes in statistics as well?

I'm curious. Can you tell me if the research on the harms of air pollution or asbestos is more rigorous than that of tobacco smoke? How exactly do we know that air pollution and asbestos are harmful?

[sushi27]

09:44 PM on 04/06/2011

And who is protecting children and everyone else from the pollution from your car? Or your coal powered electricity? Or your barbeque smoke for that matter?

[Iatros78]

11:04 PM on 04/06/2011

"You can think of smoking as the most efficient way to expose yourself to pollution." - C. Arden Pope, one of the world's leading experts on the health effects of air pollution.

You must be unaware of the Clean Air Act and the Environmental Protection Agency. You also must not know about catalytic converters, unleaded gasoline, and fuel efficiency standards. To quote Dr. Pope again, "Cars emit only a small fraction of the air pollution they emitted thirty years ago." ((http://www.byub.org/talks/Talk.aspx?id=1499) Now tell me what Big Tobacco has done to make cigarettes less polluting? People who are truly interested in clean air, such as the American Lung Association, work to reduce ALL forms of air pollution. The easiest form of air pollution to eliminate is tobacco smoke.

[catcrazee]

02:12 PM on 04/06/2011

Nicotine is a lethal drug, more addictive than heroin, and is linked to lung, salivary gland, prostate and other cancers. Tar clogs lungs. Smoke irritates the cilia (sp). One would hope to keep ones children from these awful substances, at least until they are old enough to make their own choices in life.

Smoking is slow suicide and do it, if that's your choice, but why do the little one's have to go down with you?

[DavidMG]

01:41 PM on 04/06/2011

As you read the comments below, take note how many "know nothings" there are - people who resent information that may help someone..What does this mean?

[rukiddingmerightnow]

02:44 PM on 04/06/2011

Scary isn't it?

[Iatros78]

03:00 PM on 04/06/2011

Well said. Many people despise science and rational investigation. They prefer, instead, to be led by their instincts and what they term "commonsense."

[DavidMG]

01:32 PM on 04/06/2011

The source of the smoke doesn't matter - cigarette, pipe, cigar.

[sushi27]

09:50 PM on 04/06/2011

The source of the smoke doesn't matter - cars, trucks, coal fired electricity, barbeques, candles.

[Cybershaman]

12:29 PM on 04/07/2011

You would think though, that after tens of thousands of years burning wood, dung, and eventually coal in an attempt to keep warm and cook, we would have evolved a tolerance to smoke. At least the 'second hand' type.