Secondhand smoke exposure increases odds of hospital asthma readmission for children

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-01/cchm-sse011514.php

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 20-Jan-2014
Contact: Jim Feuer
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

A new study shows that exposure to secondhand smoke at home or in the car dramatically increases the odds of children being readmitted to the hospital within a year of being admitted for asthma.

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The researchers found that there was no correlation between caregiver report of tobacco exposure and readmission. But a more scientific analysis of actual secondhand exposure via measurement of cotinine in the blood and saliva demonstrated a readmission risk in children exposed to secondhand smoke more than twice that of children not exposed.

"Of the 619 children in the study, 76 percent were covered by Medicaid," says Judie Howrylak, MD, PhD, a physician at Hershey Children's and lead author of the study. "Certainly there could be a financial incentive for insurance companies to help caregivers quit smoking, rather than pay the downstream costs of a future asthma readmission."