[Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and respiratory symptoms in school children of Nis].

Introduction: There is relatively strong evidence among children showing that passive smoking is associated with respiratory symptoms and respiratory diseases, but few studies have been carried out in Serbian population.

Objective: Establishment of association between exposure to tobacco smoke within family and prevalence of the upper and lower respiratory symptoms in school children.

Method: In this descriptive epidemiological study, studied population consisted of 533 school children, 12.96 +/- 1.54 years old, residents of Nis town, from the area with identical open air pollution. Environmental tobacco smoke exposure was recorded in 382 children. Data about symptoms in children, conditions of habitation, presence of pets and hereditary predisposition were entered into structured questionnaire. RESULTS T-test and X2-test statistics showed no significant difference of living conditions, hereditary predisposition among children and average time which passive smoker and nonsmoker children spent indoors. In both groups, the upper respiratory symptoms were more frequent (42.4%-80.2%) in comparison to lower respiratory symptoms (14.4%-25.7%). There was significant difference of the upper and lower respiratory symptoms between the exposed children and control group (X2 =9.7 > X2 (1.005 = 3.8, p > 0.05--for the upper and X2 = 4.4 > X2 (1.005) = 3.8, p > 0.05--for the lower respiratory symptoms). Primary health care need for respiratory symptoms and diseases due to effect of passive smoking was higher in the exposed children.

Conclusion: The results provide evidence of adverse respiratory effects of passive smoking to children being exposed to smoke in domestic setting. These findings emphasize the need for effective measures of prevention of involuntary smoking during childhood in Serbia.