SynthesisThorax1998
Health effects of passive smoking. 6. Parental smoking and childhood asthma: longitudinal and case-control studies.
Synthesis in Thorax, 1998. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 137 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
137 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 601 citations in OpenAlex.
- Global, regional, and national prevalence of asthma in 2019: a systematic analysis and modelling study.Journal of global health · 2022Pooled it
- Systematic review of worldwide variations of the prevalence of wheezing symptoms in children.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2008Pooled it
- Developing asthma in childhood from exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke: insights from a meta-regression.Environmental health perspectives · 2007Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The population attributable fraction of asthma among Canadian children.Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publiquePooled it
- Changes in risk perception following a smoking cessation intervention: the role of acculturation in a sample of Latino caregivers.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2014Trial
- Implementation of a community-based secondhand smoke reduction intervention for caregivers of urban children with asthma: process evaluation, successes and challenges.Health education research · 2013Trial
- Effects of HEPA air cleaners on unscheduled asthma visits and asthma symptoms for children exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke.Pediatrics · 2011Trial
- Passive smoking in babies: the BIBE study (Brief Intervention in babies. Effectiveness).BMC public health · 2010Trial
- Changes in environmental tobacco smoke exposure and asthma morbidity among urban school children.Chest · 2009Trial
- Improving care for urban children with asthma: design and methods of the School-Based Asthma Therapy (SBAT) trial.The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma · 2008Trial
- Advising parents of asthmatic children on passive smoking: randomised controlled trial.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 1999Trial
- Association between asthma and juvenile idiopathic arthritis in children in the United States: a propensity score weighted cross-sectional study.Pediatric rheumatology online journal · 2026Article
- Leveraging artificial intelligence for the management of preschool wheeze: A narrative review.Pediatric allergy and immunology : official publication of the European Society of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology · 2025Review
- Beyond cigarettes: waterpipe tobacco use as a key driver of paediatric asthma in Jordan.BMJ paediatrics open · 2025Article
- Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Its Impact on Pediatric Lung Function, Aerobic Fitness, and Body Mass: Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Article
- Mother's smoking habits affects IL10 methylation but not asthma in Ecuadorian children.Molecular genetics & genomic medicine · 2024Article
- Status of home-based secondhand smoke exposure among children and its association with health risks in Japan.Preventive medicine reports · 2024Article
- The role of gene-ambient air pollution interactions in paediatric asthma.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2022Review
77 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe relation of parental smoking to wheezing and asthma occurring after the first year of life was assessed by a systematic quantitative review of case-control and longitudinal studies, complementing earlier reviews of cross sectional surveys and wheezing in early childhood.
methodsFifty one relevant publications were identified after consideration of 1593 abstracts selected by electronic search of the Embase and Medline databases using keywords relevant to passive smoking in children. The search was completed in April 1997 and identified six studies of asthma incidence, seven of prognosis, 22 case-control studies, and 10 case series addressing disease severity.
resultsMaternal smoking was associated with an increased incidence of wheezing illness up to age 6 (pooled odds ratio 1.31, 95% CI 1.22 to 1.41), but less strongly thereafter (1.13, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.22). The long term prognosis of early wheezing illness was better if the mother smoked. The pooled odds ratio for asthma prevalence from 14 case-control studies was 1.37 (95% CI 1.15 to 1.64) if either parent smoked. Four studies suggest that parental smoking is more strongly associated with wheezing among non-atopic children. Indicators of disease severity including symptom scores, attack frequency, medication use, hospital attendance, and life threatening bronchospasm were in general positively related to household smoke exposure.
conclusionsThe excess incidence of wheezing in smoking households appears to be largely non-atopic "wheezy bronchitis" with a relatively benign prognosis, but among children with established asthma, parental smoking is associated with more severe disease. This apparent paradox may be reconciled if environmental tobacco smoke is considered a co-factor provoking wheezing attacks, rather than a cause of the underlying asthmatic tendency.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.