When there are smokers in the home, there’s more absenteeism from school among the kids, according to a new study published in Pediatrics. Massachusetts General Hospital researchers report that kids who live with smokers miss more days of school than do kids living in smoke-free households. Previous studies have looked at the impact on children when they live with smokers. A recent study from Texas Tech University Health Science Center, for example, noted that children with asthma who are exposed to household smokers have an increased risk for respiratory illness-related absences from school that lasts throughout adolescence. Ear infections, chest colds, bronchitis, asthma, and other respiratory conditions have also been associated with exposure to secondhand smoke in the home. |