Effects of passive smoking on respiratory illness of infants in north jordan

ABSTRACT

The opjective of this study was to evaluate the effects of exposure non maternal passive houseold cigarette smoking 'NPHCS' on the risk of respiratory illness "RI" [bronchitis and pneumonia] among infants from birth through age 12 months. We conducted a case - control study of 144 infants with respiratory illness and 144 age matched control infants with negative history of respiratory illness, at Prince Rashid Militry Hospital [PRMH]- North of Jordan. In conditional multiple Logistic regression models nonmaternal passive household cigarette smoking "NPHCS" [[20 cigarettes /day] was associated with an increased risk of bronchitis [odds ratio = 5.90, 95% confidence interval 1.72 to 20.76; P=0.005]. After adjustment for the confounding effect of lack of breast-feeding, the risk of any respiratory illness was 3 times higher [adjusted odds ratio = 3.63, 95% confidence interval 1.37 to 9.63; P= 0.009] in infants of NPHCS[20cigarettes per day] than in control subjects. The results of this study indicated that NPHCS increased the risk of respiratory illness during infancy, the effect was greater for bronchitis, and was confined infants of heavy NPHCS