Environmental tobacco smoke as a risk factor for respiratory disease in children

Respiratory diseases are a frequent reason for using health care. In 1995–1996, diseases of the respiratory tract (ICD 460–519) contributed seven of the top 15 reasons for visits to physician offices among children under 15 years of age in the United States. Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is a wide-spread environmental pollutant that has been long linked with respiratory problems. This paper will review the available literature on the role ETS plays in respiratory diseases, including asthma. This review focuses not only on the respiratory problems caused by ETS, but also examines the influence of age at exposure on the consequences of ETS and the importance of the differing sources of ETS exposure. As ETS is a completely preventable form of environmental pollution, the success or failure of various types of interventions will also be reviewed.