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, 29.5 percent of children live in households where someone smokes.

Just over one-third of multiracial children (34.7 percent) live in households where someone smokes, as do 32.6 percent of White children. Rates of household smoking among other racial and ethnic groups are lower: 28.1 percent of Black children, 21.2 percent of Hispanic children, and 20.2 percent of children of other races live in households with a smoker.

Rates of household smoking decline as income increases. Of children with family incomes below the poverty level, 38.5 percent live in a household with a smoker, as do 36.5 percent of children with family incomes between 100 and 199 percent of poverty. Of children with family incomes between 200 and 399 percent of FPL, 29.6 percent live with a smoker, and of children with family incomes of 400 percent of FPL or more, only 19 percent have a smoker in the household.

Children who are affected by asthma (that is, those who currently have asthma, take prescription drugs for asthma, have had a moderate or severe asthma attack in the past year, or who have been hospitalized in the past year for asthma) are more likely to live in a home with a smoker than those who are not affected by asthma (those who do not currently have asthma or who have had none of the above consequences in the past year). Of children who are affected by asthma, 33.8 percent live in a home with a smoker, compared to 29.1 percent of children who are not affected by asthma.

1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tobacco Information and Prevention Source. Secondhand Smoke Fact Sheet. February 2004.