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Title: Coal home heating and environmental tobacco smoke in relation to lower respiratory illness in Czech children, from birth to 3 years of age

Journal Article · · Environmental Health Perspectives
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.8501· OSTI ID:20781561
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  1. University of California Davis, Davis, CA (United States). Dept. of Public Health Science

The objective of this study was to evaluate how indoor pollution from tobacco and home heating may adversely affect respiratory health in young children. A total of 452 children born 1994-1996 in two districts in the Czech Republic participated. Lower respiratory illness (LRI) diagnoses occurred more frequently in children from homes heated by coal (vs. other energy sources or distant furnaces; rate ratio (RR) = 1.45; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.07-1.97). Maternal prenatal smoking and other adult smokers also increased LRI rates (respectively: RR = 1.48; 95% CI, 1.10-2.01; and RR = 1.29; 95% CI, 1.01-1.65). Cooking fuels (primarily electricity, natural gas, or propane) were not associated with LRI incidence. For children never breast-fed, coal home heating and mother's smoking conferred substantially greater risks: RR = 2.77 (95% CI, 1.45-5.27) and RR = 2.52 (95% CI, 1.31-4.85), respectively. This maternal smoking and coal home heating increased risk for LRI in the first 3 years of life, particularly in children not breast-fed.

OSTI ID:
20781561
Journal Information:
Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 114, Issue 7; ISSN 0091-6765
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English