Study shows allergy risk to babies
Updated on 18 December 2007
Babies exposed to second-hand smoke are at a higher risk of developing allergies, new research suggests.
Those who breathed in such smoke in early infancy were almost twice as likely to be allergic to certain allergens, the study led by the Institute of Environmental Medicine, in Stockholm, Sweden, found.
More than 4,000 families were questioned about their children's allergies, filling in questionnaires when their child was two months old, 12 months old, two and four.
They were asked about the environmental factors to which the child had been exposed before and after birth, including parental smoking, animal hair and dead skin and certain foodstuffs.
A blood sample was taken from more than 2,500 children at the age of four To look for immunoglobulin E (IgE) - an antibodies released in the immune system to fight off an allergen. This antibody causes other blood cells to release more chemicals, such as histamine, which cause the symptoms of the reaction.
High levels of IgE indicate a sensitivity to an allergen.
The study, published ahead of print in the journal Thorax, discovered that one in 12 mothers smoked throughout pregnancy and one in eight smoked during part of their pregnancy. But there was no evidence to suggest this affected a child's risk of becoming sensitive to certain things.
It found that one parent of one in five children smoked after the birth, with around one in 20 youngsters exposed to smoke from both parents.
One in four children had high IgE levels by the time they were four years old, with 15% allergic to inhaled allergens (such as animal hair), 16% were allergic to food allergens and 7% to both types.
The authors concluded that children exposed to second-hand smoke early in life were almost twice as likely to be allergic to inhaled allergens, to those who had not been exposed, and almost 50% more likely to have na allergy to foods.
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