543 RECURRENT WHEEZING RELATED TO PASSIVE SMOKING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

Relationships between outpatient lower respiratory illness (LRI) history in the first 6 years of life and patterns of parental cigarette use during the first 2 years of the children's lives were sought in a sample of 170 children who had been followed from early infancy in a pediatric practice. Children with varying histories of wheezing and non-wheezing LRI documented in earlier studies of illness etiology and in practice records were recruited for study; histories of parental cigarette use were obtained by questionnaire. The intensity of maternal cigarette smoking in the first 2 years of life was increased in children with histories of wheezing LRI, particularly recurrent wheezing LRI, in the first 6 years of life (p = .01). This association was more evident in boys than in girls. No relationships were found between paternal smoking and wheezing LRI history or smoking by either parent and recurrent non-wheezing LRI. These data expand existing knowledge by associating tobacco smoke exposure more closely with wheezing illness experience than with non-wheezing LRI, and by relating passive smoking to outpatient and recurrent LRI. Knowledge of the mechanisms which link passive exposure to tobacco smoke to an increased risk of wheezing illness in childhood should be sought. Educational programs should be developed to protect children from passive tobacco smoke exposure.