Children: passive smoking also promotes skin allergies

Early exposure to tobacco smoke not only affects the airways of children, it also increases their risk of developing skin allergies, warn the authors of a German study published in the "British Journal of Dermatology" .

If the negative impact of passive smoking on the respiratory system of children is well known, including the exacerbation of asthma symptoms it causes, knowledge of its effects on atopic eczema remains insufficient, find members team led by Dr Ursula Krämer, Düsseldorf.

They therefore sought to determine, following more than 1,600 young children, whether exposure to cigarette smoke may influence the development of this skin condition that affects people with atopy (that is to say hereditarily predisposed to develop allergies), sensitization to certain allergens or the occurrence of allergic respiratory diseases.

The questionnaires to the parents of the young participants and different biological tests were conducted to detect allergic reactions. Passive exposure to tobacco in turn was determined by the declarations of the parents, but also by measuring cotinine (derived from nicotine) in the urine of children.

A MULTI-LEVEL ANALYSIS

The data collected from all participants revealed that the presence of atopic eczema on screening was significantly associated with measures of urinary cotinine levels. Respiratory symptoms (wheezing, hay fever) also appeared to be related to passive smoking, but not significantly, the authors note.

For children with a genetic predisposition to allergic diseases (defined as those whose parents suffered from atopy), they are even more likely than other children to develop allergic reactions.

In this group, the risk of sensitization to house dust mites also appears to be higher, the authors have observed.