Children and Secondhand Smoke

Secondhand smoke is a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe or cigar and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers. Secondhand smoke is estimated to cause 3,000 lung cancer deaths annually and 37,000 heart disease deaths in non-smokers each year.

Children are especially susceptible because their lungs are still developing. Children who breathe secondhand smoke are more likely to develop asthma, the leading serious chronic childhood disease in the United States, and if they have asthma, it is likely to worsen.

Exposure to secondhand smoke causes 150,000 to 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections (pneumonia and bronchitis) annually in children 18 months and younger. These infections result in 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations each year.

Secondhand smoke exposure is associated with a buildup of fluid in the middle ear, a condition that results in 700,000 to 1.6 million physician office visits per year. Middle ear infections are the most common cause of childhood operations and of childhood hearing loss.

A California EPA study estimated 1,900 to 2,700 sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) deaths annually are associated with secondhand smoke exposure.