INFANT EXPOSURE TO CIGARETTE SMOKE (PASSIVE EXPOSURE, NICOTINE, COTININE).
Contributors: University of South Carolina.
Published: 1996
Number of pages: 147
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Toxicology.; Health Sciences, Public Health.
Description: The increased morbidity and mortality of infants of smoking mothers is alarming. This study aimed to: (1) validate measures sensitive to changes in levels of infant exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), (2) develop a predictive model of infant exposure to (ETS), and (3) explore infant physiologic responses to ETS.

A descriptive, comparative correlational design with repeated measures was used. Thirty newborns of smoking (15) and non-smoking (15) mothers were contacted in the hospital and followed in their homes at 2, 4, and 6 weeks. Exposure to ETS was measured by the mother's smoking history (smoking habits questionnaire and cigarette "butt" collection), infant urine cotinine levels, and ambient nicotine collected in personal air monitors. The effect of the infant's ETS exposure was measured by: infant physiologic measures of rectal temperature, pulse rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation.

The smoking women in this sample were poorer, had less education, and were less likely to be married than women who did not smoke. Infants of smoking mothers had higher diastolic blood pressure (45.5 mmHg) than infants of non-smoking mothers (38.27 mmHg). ANOVA with repeated measures analysis revealed that there continued to be a difference in diastolic blood pressure between the two groups during the first 6 weeks of life ($\rho$ =.0043). The 24 hour cigarette "butt" collection was the best single predictor of acute (adjusted r$\sp2$ =.47) and chronic exposure (adjusted r$\sp2$ =.31) to ETS as measured by infant urinary nicotine and cotinine levels when the infants were 2 weeks of age. When the scores on the Maternal Smoking History questionnaire and the ambient nicotine levels were introduced into the model, the adjusted r$\sp2$ increased to.61 and.46 respectively. This model can be used to identify infants in greatest need of nursing interventions to lower their exposure to ETS. The mothers of these infants should be educated about the possibility that maternal smoking behavior can have an impact on an infant's cardiovascular function. Mothers should also be counseled about the benefits of smoking outside and never smoking in the car.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-11, Section: B, page: 6855.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1996.

School code: 0202.