Smoking 'May Cause Asthma In Children Two Generations On'

Children are much more likely to develop asthma if their father was exposed to tobacco smoke when he was growing up, a new study has found.

- Denis Campbell

And they are at even greater risk of suffering from the common lung condition if their father was a smoker himself, according to the international team of researchers.

The findings, published in the European Respiratory Journal, provide further evidence for the possible existence of a "transgenerational effect" in which smoking can damage the health of people born two generations later.

"We found that the risk of nonallergic asthma in children increases by 59% if their fathers were exposed to secondhand smoke in childhood, compared to children whose fathers were not exposed.

"The risk was even higher, at 72%, if the fathers were exposed to secondhand smoke and went on to smoke themselves," said Jiacheng Liu, from Melbourne University, one of the co-authors.