Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jun 16;18(12):6489. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18126489.
: Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) is a serious public health concern with the potential to interfere with various components of healthy child development. Even so, there has been limited nationally representative research investigating these connections. The current study examines the relationship between ETS and language difficulties among toddlers and preschool-aged children in the United States. : Data are derived from the 2018 National Survey of Children's Health and facilitate strategic comparisons between different forms of ETS-namely, children who live with family members who smoke vs. children whose family members smoke inside the housing unit. : The findings reveal a robust association between family members smoking inside the housing unit and both receptive and expressive language difficulties, but only among male children. After adjusting for covariates, smoking inside the housing unit is associated with a 182% increase in the rate of early composite language difficulties among male children. These associations persist even when compared to male children who live with smoking family members who do not smoke inside the housing unit. : The findings suggest a need for interventions designed to reduce ETS in households with young children and increase targeted language skill training for vulnerable children in an effort to enhance child development and well-being. To maximize this effort, we advocate for interdisciplinary teams, including medical and public health practitioners, educators, and researchers, to work together to develop and implement evidence-based strategies to limit ETS in homes and facilitate healthy language development among young children.
环境烟草烟雾（ETS）是一个严重的公共卫生问题，有可能干扰儿童健康发展的各个方面。即便如此，针对这些关联的全国性代表性研究仍然有限。本研究考察了美国幼儿和学龄前儿童中 ETS 与语言困难之间的关系。
数据来自 2018 年全国儿童健康调查，便于对不同形式的 ETS 进行策略性比较，即与家中有吸烟成员的儿童与家中有吸烟成员且在住房单元内吸烟的儿童进行比较。
研究结果显示，住房单元内家庭成员吸烟与接受性和表达性语言困难之间存在密切关联，但仅在男童中存在。在调整了协变量后，住房单元内吸烟与男童早期综合语言困难率增加 182%有关。即使与家中有吸烟成员但不在住房单元内吸烟的男童相比，这些关联仍然存在。
研究结果表明，需要采取干预措施减少幼儿家庭中的 ETS，并增加针对弱势儿童的有针对性的语言技能培训，以促进儿童发展和福祉。为了最大程度地发挥这一努力的效果，我们倡导多学科团队，包括医疗和公共卫生从业者、教育工作者和研究人员，共同制定和实施基于证据的策略，以限制家庭中的 ETS 并促进幼儿的健康语言发展。
