Environmental tobacco smoke and pneumonia in children living in Monterrey, México

Objective: Acute respiratory diseases occupy the first 5 places in infantile morbidity and mortality around the world, two million children directly dying from such cause annually. Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) contains toxic and irritating compounds having an injurious effect on health, producing increased risk of morbidity and mortality in non-smoking adults and children. Our main objective was determining the association between ETS and pneumonia in children. Material and methods: This was an unmatched case and controls hospital-based study. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. Results: A total of 285 patients (142 cases and 143 controls) were studied; 47,4 % of the patients were female and average age was 4,5,+2,7. OR for patients being exposed to ETS developing pneumonia was 3,44 (CI: 2,11-5,6). Discussion: Children being exposed to ETS increases the risk of developing pneumonia by more than threefold.