Passive smoking and the seasonal difference of severity of asthma in children.

To learn whether asthmatic children are affected by passive smoking, we studied 240 unselected consecutively referred asthmatic subjects, aged 7 to 17 years. To discover whether children of smokers are affected more severely during the cold, wet season, when windows are closed and children are indoors, than during the warm, dry season, when houses are well ventilated and children spend more time outdoors, we compared lung function tests recorded during the two seasons. If seen during the cold, wet season, children of smoking mothers compared with those of nonsmoking mothers had a lower FEV1% (74 vs 86, p = .00), FEF25-75 percent (56 vs 75, p = .00) and PC20 histamine (0.85 vs 1.95, p = .01). There was a highly significant correlation between the number of cigarettes the mother smoked in the house and each of these lung function test results, indicating a dose-response relationship. Those seen during the warm, dry season, by contrast, did not have lower mean spirometric test results if their mothers were smokers than if nonsmokers, and there was no correlation between the number of cigarettes the mother smoked in the house and the result of any lung function test. Our results strongly support the hypothesis that cigarette smoke from the mother aggravates her child's asthma.