(NaturalPath) A new study by the American Academy of Pediatrics said that children who live with smokers end up in the doctor’s office more often than those not exposed to tobacco smoke. The data came from the National Survey on Children’s Health conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease and Control Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.
The results showed 24 percent of the 95,677 children included in the study lived with smokers. About five percent of the children lived with someone who smoked inside the home. The study revealed that children who lived with a smoker or who had exposure to tobacco smoke inside the home were significantly more likely to have had any medical care visit, including sick care.
“Our findings indicate that tobacco smoke exposure has a significant impact on demand for health care services,” one researcher said. “Settings with a high volume of children exposed to tobacco smoke at home, including pediatric emergency departments, could serve as effective outlets for health messages to inform caregivers about the dangers of smoking around children and help decrease these potentially preventable tobacco smoke exposure-related visits and associated costs.”
So it’s not just good for your health to not live with smokers, it’s also good for your wallet.
Razi Berry, Founder and Publisher of Naturopathic Doctor News & Review (ndnr.com) and NaturalPath (thenatpath.com), has spent the last decade as a natural medicine advocate and marketing whiz. She has galvanized and supported the naturopathic community, bringing a higher quality of healthcare to millions of North Americans through her publications. A self-proclaimed health-food junkie and mother of two; she loves all things nature, is obsessed with organic gardening, growing fruit trees (not easy in Phoenix), laughing until she snorts, and homeschooling. She is a little bit crunchy and yes, that is her real name.