Tuesday, May 07, 2002

Smoking is Stupid

Everyone knows tobacco can kill you.

So you'd have to be pretty dumb to smoke, yes?

Well, Monday a report came out showing smoking and second hand smoke can make you dumb(er).

At least in terms of test scores.

Quite the chicken and the egg dilemma, eh?

Here are the essentials:

Researchers assessed logic and reasoning, math and reading skills in 4,399 children aged 5 to 16 using data gathered from 1988 to 1994. These test scores were compared to the amount of smoke each child had been exposed to, which was determined by measuring levels of a nicotine byproduct called cotinine.

"Children who had more exposure and had higher cotinine levels performed more poorly on all of the cognitive tests than the children who had the lower levels," says Kimberly Yolton, research associate at the Children's Environmental Health Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, who conducted the research.

The biggest declines were seen in reading skills: Every five-unit increase in the level of cotinine corresponds with a five-unit decrease in reading scores.

The above is from an ABC article.

This is from the hospital's posting:

In the United States, 43 percent of children are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke in their own homes, and 85 percent of children have detectable levels of cotinine in their blood.

The hospital also reports that even a small amount of cotinine can make a measurable impact.

The biggest declines occurring in reading skills are especially worrisome.

Reading is the foundation for all learning.

posted by Bohica at 11:48 AM