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Pediatric surgery and parental smoking behavior
1Department of Anesthesiology and Nicotine Research Center, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
Insights
Children's surgery can motivate parents who smoke to attempt quitting. However, parental surgery is more strongly linked to successful smoking cessation than child surgery, highlighting a need for support.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Behavioral Science
- Pediatric Health
Background:
- Secondhand smoke exposure poses significant health risks to children.
- Surgery in adult smokers is a recognized opportunity to encourage smoking cessation.
- Parental smoking behavior may be influenced by a child's surgical experience.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between children undergoing surgery and changes in their parents' smoking behaviors.
- To determine if a child's surgical procedure acts as a 'teachable moment' for parental smoking cessation.
Main Methods:
- Secondary analysis of 2005 National Health Interview Survey data.
- Logistic regression analysis of 9,289 parent respondents and their children.
- Examined the relationship between parent/child surgical history and parental smoking behavior.
Main Results:
- 12.6% of children lived in homes where smoking occurred indoors.
- Parental surgery (OR 2.19) or child surgery (OR 2.61) was associated with increased parental quit attempts.
- Parental surgery (OR 2.35) was linked to successful quit attempts, unlike child surgery (OR 0.51).
Conclusions:
- Children's surgery increases parental smoking quit attempts.
- Parental surgery is a stronger predictor of successful smoking cessation than child surgery.
- Parents attempting to quit after a child's surgery may require additional support for sustained abstinence.
Background:
Secondhand smoke exposure poses health risks to children, including increased risks for anesthesia. In adult smokers, surgery serves as a teachable moment to motivate quitting. For parents who smoke, having a child undergo surgery may also serve as a teachable moment for smoking behavioral change. This study determined if there is an association between children undergoing a surgical procedure and changes in their parents' smoking behavior.
Methods:
Secondary analyses were performed using logistic regression analysis of 2005 survey data from the National Health Interview Survey. Analyses included 9,289 parent respondents who provided information on both themselves and their children.
Results:
Of the sampled children, 1,112 (12.6%, 95% CI:11.7, 13.4) lived in a home with at least one person who smoked inside in a usual week. In multivariate analysis of the relationship between parent and child surgical history in the past 12 months and smoking behavior, surgery in either the parent (odds ratio 2.19, 95% CI: 1.55, 3.08) or child (odds ratio 2.61, 95% CI: 1.56, 4.35) was associated with an increased likelihood of a quit attempt by the parent. However, these attempts were more likely to be successful if the parents (odds ratio 2.35, 95% CI: 1.35, 4.07), not their child (odds ratio 0.51, 95% CI: 0.20, 1.28), had surgery within the past 12 months.
Conclusions:
Parents who smoke were more likely to make a quit attempt within the past 12 months if their children had surgery within this time, but they were not more likely to succeed in maintaining abstinence and thus could benefit from assistance.
