Kids tend to bunk school if there's a smoker at home

“Among children aged 6 to 11 who live with smokers, one quarter to one third of school absences are due to household smoking,” said lead researcher Douglas Levy of the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at MGH.

“On a national basis these absences result in $227 million in lost wages and time for caregivers or their employers," Levy said. The researchers, who reported their study online in the journal Pediatrics, noted that one-third of US children live with at least one smoker, and more than half of those aged 3 to 11 years have detectable levels of a blood marker for tobacco exposure. Second-hand smoking has been shown to increase incidence of ear infections and several respiratory conditions, and school absenteeism is an accessible measure of serious illness in children.

Earlier studies of the relationship between lost school days and household smoking have focused on local populations and did not evaluate the severity of the problem's impact. For their research, the MGH team analysed data from the 2005 National Health Interview Study, an annual in-person survey of representative households nationwide.

They evaluated the children's general health by asking their parents about their smoking habits and the number of time the kids missed school due to illness. They also asked the type of illness the children suffered in the past.  Of the 3,087 children whose information was analysed for this study, more than 14 per cent lived in a home with at least one person who smoked in the house 8 per cent lived with one household smoker and 6 per cent with two or more which represents 2.6 million children nationwide.

Children living with one in-home smoker had an average of 1.06 more days absent, and those living with two or more had 1.54 more days than did children living in homes where no one smoked indoors.

Illness associated
Illnesses associated with exposure to tobacco smoke, including ear infections and chest colds, accounted for 24 per cent of absences in children living in homes where one person smoked indoors and 34 per cent for those living in homes with at least two in-home smokers.

The researchers also calculated the potential costs associated with the need to care for children absent from school due to smoke-exposure related illness, costs including lost income for parents without paid time off, the costs to employers of the lost work, and the inability of caregivers not employed outside the home to take care of usual household tasks.

“The total impact nationwide was $227 million in lost wages and household work for the families of the 2.6 million children living with smokers and for their employers," Levy said.