Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure at Home and High-Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein Levels in Three-to-Five-Year-Old Children

Eunkye Kang, Soo Young Kim, Seong Sil Chang, Sinye Lim, Hwan-Cheol Kim, Chul-Gab Lee, Yu-Mi Kim, Su Young Kim, Kee-Jae Lee, Suejin Kim and Mina Ha
Additional contact information
Eunkye Kang: Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Eulji University Hospital, Daejeon 35223, Korea
Soo Young Kim: Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Eulji University Hospital, Daejeon 35223, Korea
Seong Sil Chang: Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Eulji University Hospital, Daejeon 35223, Korea
Sinye Lim: Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 02447, Korea
Hwan-Cheol Kim: Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, School of Medicine, Inha University, Incheon 22332, Korea
Chul-Gab Lee: Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, College of Medicine, Chosun University, Gwangju 61453, Korea
Yu-Mi Kim: Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine , Dong-A University, Busan 50612, Korea
Su Young Kim: Department of Preventive Medicine, Cheju Halla University, Jeju 63585, Korea
Kee-Jae Lee: Department of Information and Statistics, Korea National Open University, Seoul 03087, Korea
Suejin Kim: Environmental Health Research Department, National Institute of Environmental Research, Incheon 22689, Korea
Mina Ha: Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan 31116, Korea

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 10, 1-11

Abstract: Exposure to harmful environmental factors is particularly detrimental to younger children. We investigated the relationship between environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure in pre-schoolers at home and the level of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), a predictive factor for cardiovascular disease. This study was conducted in 2014 and was based on the data of preschool children from the Korean Environmental Health Survey in Children and Adolescents (2012 to 2014), a nationally representative sample. Of 577 children, aged three to five years, 482 were eventually selected for the analysis after excluding those with missing variables, or whose hs-CRP level exceeded the reference value. The proportion of pre-school children exposed to ETS at home was 14.8%. The odd ratios (OR)s of hs-CRP > 1mg/L were 4.90 (95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 1.04–23.17) and 11.66 (95% CI = 1.90–71.65) in the groups exposed to ETS 3–4 times and ?5 times daily, respectively, compared to the non-exposed group. The risk of elevated levels of hs-CRP showed an increasing trend proportionally to the increase in ETS exposure frequency ( p for trend = 0.03). Anti-smoking educational programs for parents and guardians may be helpful to reduce ETS exposure at home.

Keywords: environmental tobacco smoke; hs-CRP; preschool children; cardiovascular risk factors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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