The Association of Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure and Inflammatory Markers in Hospitalized Children

E. Melinda Mahabee-Gittens, Ashley L. Merianos, Patricia C. Fulkerson, Lara Stone and Georg E. Matt
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E. Melinda Mahabee-Gittens: Division of Emergency Medicine, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center; University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
Ashley L. Merianos: School of Human Services, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA
Patricia C. Fulkerson: Division of Allergy and Immunology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati; College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
Lara Stone: Division of Emergency Medicine, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center; University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
Georg E. Matt: Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92123, USA

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 23, 1-10

Abstract: Background: Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure is associated with altered cytokine levels in children. We sought to examine ETS exposure prevalence and the relationship between ETS exposure and cytokine levels in a sample of hospitalized children. (2) Methods: Inflammatory markers (IL-8, IL-1β, IL-10, and TNF-α) and cotinine were measured in saliva of hospitalized, nonsmoking children (N = 112). To assess the association between ETS exposure and immune system response, we built a multivariate regression model including the four inflammatory markers as the response variables and cotinine, age, sex, and discharge diagnosis as explanatory variables while assessing possible interaction effects. (3) Results: Mean age (SD) was 5.8(5.0) years; Geometric Mean (GeoM) cotinine = 1.8 [95% CI = 1.4–2.2]. Children with non-inflammatory other diagnoses had lower IL-10 ( p = 0.003) and TNF-α ( p = 0.009) levels than children with inflammatory other diagnoses. Children with asthma ( p = 0.01) and bacterial illnesses and/or pneumonia ( p = 0.002) had higher IL-8 levels. Independent of diagnosis, there was a significant curvilinear association between cotinine and IL-1β ( p = 0.002) reflecting no association for cotinine levels <5 ng/mL and a positive association for >5 ng/mL. (4) Conclusions: Children with higher ETS exposure levels have higher IL-1β levels regardless of age, sex, and diagnosis. ETS exposure may increase pro-inflammatory immune responses in children and may interfere with native immune responses and the ability to heal and fight infection.

Keywords: cotinine; inflammatory markers; cytokines; secondhand smoke exposure; children (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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