LOS ANGELES — Children and teens exposed to secondhand smoke are more likely to develop symptoms of a variety of mental-health problems, including major depressive disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and others, according to a study published in Tuesday’s edition of the journal Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
The new study is believed to be the first that looks at how secondhand smoke exposure — as measured by the presence of a nicotine metabolite in the blood — is associated with mental health in a nationally representative sample of American kids and teens.
Researchers from the National Institutes of Health, the University of Miami and Legacy, a nonprofit that fights tobacco use, used data on 2,901 youths between the ages of 8 and 15. On average, the children exposed to secondhand smoke had higher levels of cotinine, which is produced as the body metabolizes nicotine, and had almost five symptoms of major depressive disorder, almost four symptoms of ADHD, almost three symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder and more than one symptom of conduct disorder.
Los Angeles Times
