Paternal smoking and maternal protective behaviors at home on infant's saliva cotinine levels

A major source of second hand smoke (SHS) exposure in infants is the home. Some parents are aware of this risk and make efforts to minimise the exposure by employing a total ban on smoking in the home. However many families opt for a partial smoking ban, only smoking in certain rooms, at certain times, or at certain distances from the child and practice avoidance behaviours like opening windows. In order to better understand how parents' smoking behaviours affected SHS exposure in children, Dr Yi Nam Suen from the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, and her team developed a questionnaire for non-smoking mothers with young infants, and measured salivary cotinine levels in their infants. Related article - https://www.nature.com/articles/pr2017279