Tobacco's Toll: Implications for the Pediatrician

Abstract

The disease of tobacco addiction, which is pervasive in the United States, begins in childhood and adolescence. Twenty-five percent of the population regularly uses tobacco, despite evidence that such use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Tobacco use reportedly kills 2.5 times as many people each year as alcohol and drug abuse combined. According to 1998 data from the World Health Organization, there were 1.1 billion smokers worldwide and 10 000 tobacco-related deaths per day. Furthermore, in the United States, 43% of children aged 2 to 11 years are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke, which has been implicated in sudden infant death syndrome, low birth weight, asthma, middle ear disease, pneumonia, cough, and upper respiratory infection. Pediatricians play a crucial role in reducing both tobacco use (by children, adolescents, and their parents) and exposure to tobacco smoke and should rank this among their highest health prevention priorities.