Published In

Environmental Health Perspectives

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-2006

Subjects

Nicotine addiction -- Treatment, Tobacco smoke pollution -- Health aspects, Asthma in children

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Early-life exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) can result in developmental delay as well as childhood asthma and increased risk of cancer. The high cost of childhood asthma related to ETS exposure has been widely recognized; however, the economic impact of ETS-related developmental delay has been less well understood.

METHODS AND RESULTS:The Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) has reported adverse effects of prenatal ETS exposure on child development in a cohort of minority women and children in New York City (odds ratio of developmental delay = 2.36; 95% confidence interval 1.22-4.58). Using the environmentally attributable fraction (EAF) approach, we estimated the annual cost of one aspect of ETS-related developmental delay: Early Intervention Services. The estimated cost of these services per year due to ETS exposure is > Dollars 50 million per year for New York City Medicaid births and Dollars 99 million per year for all New York City births.

CONCLUSION:The high annual cost of just one aspect of developmental delay due to prenatal exposure to ETS provides further impetus for increased prevention efforts such as educational programs to promote smoke-free homes, additional cigarette taxes, and subsidizing of smoking cessation programs.

Description

This is the publisher's final PDF. Article appears in Environmental Health Perspectives and can be found line at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17035147

*At the time of publication Thaddeus R. Miller was affiliated with Columbia University

DOI

10.1289/ehp.9165

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/12740

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