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Lighting Up Linked to Bad Grades

Posted on: Thursday, 30 October 2003, 06:00 CST

Smoking common among students who have poor academic performance

HealthDayNews -- Smoking and asthma and poor grades seem to go hand in hand.

An American study found inner-city students in schools with the poorest academic ratings have a much higher rate of tobacco exposure and experimentation than students at other schools.

The study by researchers at Jefferson Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia also found children with asthma were more likely to experiment with tobacco and to be exposed to tobacco smoke than children without asthma.

"Tobacco use and asthma are more prevalent among poor and minority populations, most often found in inner-city areas," lead researcher Dr. Salvatore Mangione, an associate professor of medicine, says in a prepared statement.

"If a child grows up in a household with smokers, that child is much more likely to experiment with tobacco. Tobacco exposure, whether active or passive, is a major trigger for asthma, and asthma is a known cause of absenteeism in children, which can, in turn, lead to worse academic performance," Mangione says.

The study included 6,727 middle school students in 65 Philadelphia public schools. Of those students, about 6,000 attended schools managed by the Philadelphia School District (PSD), while 721 students attended the lowest academic performing schools, managed by a private organization called Edison Inc.

Overall, 23.7 percent of PSD children and 24.5 percent of Edison children reported having asthma. Among those children with asthma, home exposure to environmental smoke was reported by 73.2 percent of the Edison children and by 64.5 percent of the PSD children.

Experimentation with smoking was reported by 31 percent of the Edison children and by 24.1 percent of the PSD children.

In both school districts, more children with asthma experimented with smoking than those without asthma. In PSD children, 24.1 percent of asthmatics and 20.5 percent of non-asthmatics reported tobacco experimentation. In Edison children, those figures were 31 percent and 23.2 percent, respectively.

The study was presented Oct. 29 at the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians in Orlando, Fla.

"Many parents and family members who smoke do not realize how tobacco exposure can impact a child's respiratory health," Mangione says.

"School-based programs are needed to educate parents and children on the dangers of tobacco exposure and experimentation and their adverse effects on asthma and other respiratory conditions," he says.

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On the Net:

Youth and Tobacco information

Jefferson Medical College

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