Passive smoking and expired carbon monoxide concentrations in healthy and asthmatic children
Citation
Ece, A., Gürkan, F., Haspolat, Y. K., Derman, O. ve Kırbaş, G. (2000). Passive smoking and expired carbon monoxide concentrations in healthy and asthmatic children. Allergologia et Immunopathologia, 28(5), 255-260.Abstract
Background:carbon monoxide (CO) in expired air hasbeen reported to be an indirect measurement for thequantity of passive smoking. Since endogen CO isproduced in inflammatory processes and inflammation isthe main pathogenetic mechanism of asthma, it w asaimed to investigate the relationship betw een theintensity of passive smoking and CO concentration inexpired air of healthy and asthmatic children.M ethods and Results:the study w as performed inthe outpatient pediatrics clinics and day care centers.Know ledge about indoor smoking habits w ere obtainedfrom parents. The exhaled CO concentrations w eremeasured by a portable device in 235 healthy (meanage, 4.4 ± 2.3 years) and 54 asthmatic (mean age, 4.5± 1.7 years) children. Children w ith no smoking parentshad the low est exhaled CO concentrations. Significantrelationships w ere found betw een the number ofsmoking cigarettes in the house and exhaled COconcentrations in both healthy (p = 0.003) and asthmatic(p = 0.01) children. Carbon monoxide concentrationsw ere higher in asthmatic children than healthy ones(mean ± SD, 1.32 ± 1.50 ppm and 0.86 ± 1.35 ppm,respectively, p = 0.028) if their parental smoking habitsw ere not taken into account. Asthmatic children of non-smoking parents had higher CO concentrations thanhealthy subjects of non-smoking parents (1.05 ± 1.55ppm vs0.37 ± 0.53 ppm, p = 0.01). On the other hand,asthmatic children w ho has no smoking parents and didnot receive inhaled steroids had significantly higher COconcentrations (1.75 ± 1.45 ppm) than those w horeceived steroids (0.58 ± 0.65 ppm, p = 0.024).Conclusions:exhaled CO can be used as anindicator of passive smoking in children. Higherexpired CO of asthmatic children may reflectinflammation of the lung in asthma.