Passive smoking exposure of sick children in Hong Kong

1 This study aims to investigate the extent of passive smoking exposure of sick children in Hong Kong; their father's smoking behaviors and their moth er's action to protect the child from environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). 2 This cross-sectional survey was the first phase of a randomized controlle d trial on a health education intervention provided by nurses in the genera l paediatric wards of four major hospitals in Hong Kong. The subjects are n on-smoking mothers of sick children admitted to hospital and with a smoking husband living together in the same household with the child. Eligible sub jects completed a self-administered baseline questionnaire before entering into the trial. 3 All the 848 children whose mothers completed the questionnaire during Dec ember 1997 to April 1998 had a smoking father. They constituted about 24% ( 95% CI: 22.6-24.9%) of all the sick children during the same period. More t han half of the children's fathers (55%; 51.6-58.3%) smoked 1-14 cigarettes per day and about 68% (64.7-71.0%) of them were daily smokers for over 10 years. Over half (53%; 49.4-56.2%) of the fathers smoked 1-14 cigarettes at home every day. About 21% of the fathers smoked near the child occasionall y and 31% (27.4-33.6%) smoked 1-14 cigarettes near the child per day. About 16% of the children lived with more than one smoker (2-3). About 86% (83.3 -88.0%) of the children had 1-3 smokers who smoked at home and 61% (58.1-64 .7%) of them had 1-3 smokers who smoked near them every day. However, 70% o f the children were reported by their mothers as exposed to ETS at home. Th is percentage (70%) was less than the percentage (86%) of smokers who smoke d at home daily. About 31.1% of the mothers reported symptoms of coughing a nd running nose (20.6%) in their children when they were exposed to ETS. To protect the child from ETS exposure, 43% of the mothers requested the fath er not to smoke near the child, 33.1% requested the father to smoke less ci garettes and 31.5% advised the father to quit smoking. 4 In conclusion, sick children in Hong Kong are at risk of exposure to ETS, but not all mothers are aware of the health risks and their actions were i nadequate. There is a critical need to promote awareness of ETS exposure an d the health risks in the family in Hong Kong so as to reduce illness and h ospital admission in children.