ABSTRACT
A case-control study was designed to assess the relationship between passive exposure of children to smoking and the development of respiratory diseases with ronchi and wheezing detected by the primary care physician. The clinical records of 530 children in whom at least one episode of ronchi and/or wheezing had been recorded during the four years of activity of the Family and Community Unit of Cornellà were considered as cases. All the remaining children from the same age group were considered as controls. There were no significant differences in the proportion of smoking families between cases and controls (70.5% vs 71.9, chi 2 = 0.018, p = 0.89, NS). The mean number of cigarettes per family and day was not different either. It is a concluded that, in this age group, passive exposure to smoking does not result in an increase of respiratory diseases associated with ronchi and wheezing.
