Exposure to environmental smoke—
from cigarettes, cigars, or pipes—
can be a serious health hazard for
children. According to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention,
exposure to secondhand smoke is
associated with higher rates of
sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS),
asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonia
in young children.1 Parents were
asked whether anyone in the household
used cigarettes, cigars, or pipe
tobacco. Overall, almost one-third
of children live in households where
someone smokes. Exposure to environmental
smoke in the household is
considerably more common in rural
areas: of children in urban areas,
27.5 percent live with a smoker,
compared to 37.0 percent of children
in large rural areas and 38.1 percent
of children in small rural areas.
In general, older children, children
with lower family incomes, and White
and American Indian/Alaska Native
children are most likely to be exposed
to smoking in the household. Within
most age, income, and racial and ethnic
groups, smoking is more common
in rural areas. With regard to age,
living with a smoker is most common
among children aged 12-17 years
who live in small rural areas (39.8
percent), while it is least common
among children aged 0-5 living in
urban areas (24.2 percent).
Some of the greatest disparities
across location occur within family
income groups. Nearly half of all children
with family incomes below the
Federal poverty level (FPL) who live in
small rural areas are exposed to household
smoke, compared to 35.5 percent
of children in that income group living
in urban areas. These disparities
within income groups become smaller
as income rises: among children with
family incomes of 400 percent of FPL
and above, the lowest rate, which
occurs in urban areas, is 18.6 percent,
compared to a rate of 22.4 percent,
which occurs in large rural areas; this
is a difference of less than 4 percentage
points, compared to a difference of
almost 15 percentage points among
the lowest income group.
Household smoking rates are greatest
in rural areas within every racial
and ethnic group with only one exception:
among Black children, living with
a smoker is least common in small rural areas (27.5 percent) and most
common in large rural areas (33.8
percent). With regard to race and ethnicity,
American Indian/Alaska Native
children in small rural areas are most
likely to live with a smoker (46.0
percent) while urban children classified
in the other races category and
Hispanic children are least likely
(13.2 and 20.6 percent, respectively).
1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tobacco
Information and Prevention Source. Secondhand
smoke fact sheet. February 2004.
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