Washington: A new study by researchers at the University of Southern California has found that children with a certain genetic makeup are at an increased risk of chest infections and other respiratory illnesses if they are exposed to passive smoking.
According to the study, published in the American Journal of Respiratory Critical Care Medicine, children who have a variation in a key gene and who live in a home with smokers are four times more likely to miss school days because of lower-respiratory illness than children who are free from the variation and live in smoke-free homes.'Parents or others who choose to smoke around children are causing illness and school absences, potentially affecting how well the children do in school,' said lead researcher Frank D. Gilliland.
The researchers examined the gene called tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha. This gene is linked to the body's inflammatory response to chemicals such as those found in second-hand smoke. About 24 percent of the children had a variation in at least one of their two copies of the TNF-alpha gene.
They collected a variety of information about the children, from their history of asthma, if any, to their exposure to smoking and allergens. They also collected school absence reports and took DNA samples from the children, and found that 20 percent of children lived with second-hand smoke, and nearly six percent of children lived with two or more smokers.
Children who breathed second-hand smoke at home were 51 percent more likely than those in non-smoking homes to call in sick from school due to a lower-respiratory illness, regardless of their genetic makeup.
But smoke's influence was even more pronounced when researchers began looking at TNF-alpha. Each person has two copies of the TNF-alpha gene. In one important spot on the gene, some people have the base known as 'G'; others have the base known as 'A.' So when both copies of the gene are considered together, people may either have a 'GG,' 'AA' or 'AG' genotype.
The researchers found that children who had the "A" variation--either the 'AA' or 'AG' genotype--were more vulnerable to the effects of second-hand smoke.
Children with the 'A' variation who were exposed to smoke at home were 75 percent more likely to be absent from school due to illness of any kind compared to children in smoke-free homes who had the 'GG' genotype.
The effect became pronounced when it came to respiratory illness. Children with the 'A' variation who lived with two or more smokers were twice as likely to miss school due a respiratory illness compared to 'GG' children who lived in smoke-free homes. And the effect was particularly strong for lower-respiratory illness, such as chest infections. Children with the 'A' variation who were exposed to two or more smokers were four times as likely to stay home due to lower-respiratory illness than were unexposed children with the 'GG' genotype.
Chemicals found in cigarette smoke promote oxidative stress, which is involved in numerous inflammation processes in the body. TNF-alpha plays a role in those processes, and researchers suspect that variations in the TNF-alpha gene might intensify the body's inflammatory response.
(Source:ANI)
