Children admitted to a hospital for asthma are more likely to be readmitted in one year if they are exposed to secondhand smoke, according to a Medical News Today report.
Researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and Penn State Milton S. Hershey (Penn.) Children's Hospital measured cotinine — a metabolic product of nicotine — in admitted patients' blood and saliva.
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About 35 percent of parents and caregivers reported their children were exposed to tobacco. However, the serum and saliva cotinine measurements indicated children were exposed to tobacco more frequently than parents reported, at 56.1 percent and 79.6 percent, respectively.
Seventeen percent of the total patients were readmitted within one year. However, children exposed to secondhand smoke were twice as likely to be readmitted to the hospital within one year.
Researchers suggest their findings could initiate smoking cessation efforts which in turn could reduce the risk of hospitalizations for children with asthma.
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