Smoke Out the Risk of Asthma in Your Child

Most people know that smoking can cause lung cancer. But smoke also is a major risk for asthma.

Asthma, like allergies, often runs in a family. But breathing in secondhand smoke—the smoke produced by people who smoke—before birth or during childhood also can cause asthma in kids.

Asthma is the most common chronic childhood illness. Many adults also have asthma. Smoke adds to the risk of asthma in adults as well as in kids. Besides causing asthma, smoke:

• adds to the number of asthma attacks and hospital visits.
• makes asthma harder to control.
• makes asthma symptoms worse.
• slows your recovery from an asthma attack.

The bad news is that almost 1 in 4 Americans smoke. Some of these smokers are children.

Protecting yourself and your loved ones from asthma is just one more good reason to quit smoking. Here are some tips for quitting: Ask all those around you for support.

• Think about how you’ll handle stress and the urge to smoke.
• Ask your doctor for medicines that can help you quit.
• Be prepared to fail a few times, but do keep trying.

To avoid secondhand smoke:

• Ask smokers not to smoke in your home.
• Don’t keep ashtrays around.
• Tell all people who take care of your children not to smoke around your children.
• Always sit in the nonsmoking section when you go out to eat.