By Katerina Pesheva
Johns Hopkins Medicine

A Johns Hopkins Children's Center study has found that the parents and caregivers of children with asthma often underestimate and underreport how much they smoke at home and around their children, giving pediatricians a skewed idea about their patients' exposure to secondhand smoke.

Because self-reporting inaccurately gauges exposure, pediatricians should use more reliable measures such as obtaining urine samples from children to check for secondhand smoke inhalation, researchers say.

In a study of 81 children with persistent asthma who lived with a smoker, researchers found wide discrepancies between objective tests and parental reports. In addition, nearly one-third of parents and caregivers reported smoking in the car in the child's presence, a red flag that exposure to secondhand smoke occurs outside the home.

"We want pediatricians caring for children with asthma to keep in mind that a child's symptoms could be brought on by secondhand smoke," said lead investigator Arlene Butz.

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