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A study presented at this year’s Annual Meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists provides evidence that the carbon monoxide levels of children exposed to second-hand smoke are often similar to that of active adult smokers and frequently higher than levels in adults exposed to second-hand smoke.

Branden E. Yee, M.D., and his research group from the anesthesiology department at Tufts Medical Center studies 200 children between the ages of 1 and 12 to assess their levels of carboxyhemoglobin, which is formed when carbon monoxide binds to the blood.

Carbon monoxide binds to blood 200 times more easily than oxygen, but the resultant carboxyhemoglobin is unable to deliver oxygen to body tissue, including that of the brain, heart and muscle.

Parents who smoke cigarettes around their kids in cars and homes beware – second-hand smoke may trigger symptoms of nicotine dependence in children. The findings are published in the September edition of the journal Addictive Behaviors in a joint study from nine Canadian institutions.

“Increased exposure to second-hand smoke, both in cars and homes, was associated with an increased likelihood of children reporting nicotine dependence symptoms, even though these children had never smoked,” says Dr. Jennifer O’Loughlin, senior author of the study, a professor at the Université de Montréal’s Department of Social and Preventive Medicine and a researcher at the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal.

“These findings support the need for public health interventions that promote non-smoking in the presence of children, and uphold policies to restrict smoking in vehicles when children are present,” adds Dr. O’Loughlin, who collaborated with researchers from the Université de Sherbrooke, the Université de Moncton, the University of British Columbia, McGill University, Concordia University and the Institut national de santé publique du Québec.

Nicotine nasal spray won’t help teen smokers kick the habit, at least in its current formulation, new research published in Pediatrics suggests.

Adolescents who tried the spray complained of burning in their nostrils, a bad smell, and other side effects, leading them it stop using it or using it too infrequently to be effective, Dr. Mark L. Rubenstein and his colleagues from the University of California, San Francisco found.

“It’s actually one of the most effective forms of nicotine replacement in adults,” Rubenstein noted in an interview with Reuters Health. “Usually the side effects are supposed to wear off during the first week.”

8 of every 10 Spanish adolescents who play a sport do not smoke, and more than 40% do not practice any physical activity

- A research work carried out in sample of adolescents aged between 13 and 18 from Granada, Madrid, Murcia, Santander and Zaragoza has analysed the relationship between sport activity and tobacco consumption.

- According to this work, 59.2% of the Spanish adolescents are physically active, although there are significant differences according to sex (71.1% of boys, as against 46.7% of girls). 

Tobacco addiction starts early, and public health experts agree that it is important to keep tobacco out of the hands of adolescents. Still, what works for prevention is a matter of controversy, and a new systematic review suggests that there is no clear answer.

Review authors Lindsay Stead and Tim Lancaster at the University of Oxford examined 35 studies to determine whether programs targeting shopkeepers who sold tobacco to minors actually reduced how much teens smoked.

Simply informing merchants about the law had no effect on reducing sales to minors, the review found. Rather, the most successful initiatives used a variety of tactics, including retailer education, personal visits from law enforcement personnel, and posters and public information campaigns to increase community awareness.