EXPOSURE OF PUERTO-RICAN CHILDREN TO ENVIRONMENTAL TOBACCO-SMOKE

Background. Many studies of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) have bee n conducted in northern, industrialized countries. As yet, however, no studies have been carried out on ETS exposure with nonsmokers living in tropical environments. Methods. Urine specimens were collected from 175 healthy Puerto Rican children (2-11 years) living in an industria l area and were analyzed for cotinine, a quantitative biomarker for ex posure to ETS. Their parents completed a questionnaire covering smokin g habits. Results. Seventy percent of children were exposed to ETS. Qu antitatively, exposure to smoke in households consuming more than 1 pa ck per day (ppd) caused a doubling of cotinine excretion compared with households consuming less than 1 ppd. Smoke from mothers made the gre atest contribution to cotinine, followed by smoke from fathers, with s moke from other persons having no effect. Degree of exposure was inver sely related to age of the child. Conclusions. Young children (2-4 yea rs) were detected to have significantly greater exposure to ETS than o lder children (5-11 years) and in the younger group the effect seemed to be from the mother's smoking much more than the father's, with othe r persons contributing negligible amounts. This suggests an obvious st rategy for prevention of exposure to ETS in young children. (C) 1997 A cademic Press.