Investigators used electronic health record data from an urban primary care network from July 2023 to March 2026.\u00b2 The analysis included visits where parents of children aged 1 year or older with asthma completed both a parent tobacco treatment platform (PTTP) and an asthma control tool (ACT).\u00b2 The PTTP asked which family members used combustible tobacco, e-cigarettes, or both, and the ACT assessed symptoms, control, medication use, and health care utilization.\u00b2<\/p>\n
Exposure was categorized as both tobacco and e-cigarettes, tobacco only, e-cigarettes only, or none, which served as the reference.\u00b2 Multivariable logistic regression models adjusted for child age, sex, insurance, and Child Opportunity Index (COI).\u00b2<\/p>\n
Among 48,118 encounters, 48% involved children aged 6 to 12 years, 42% involved female patients, and 43% involved Medicaid-insured patients.\u00b2 Household use of both tobacco and e-cigarettes was reported in 5% of encounters (n = 2500), tobacco only in 9% (n = 4238), and e-cigarettes only in 3% (n = 1427).\u00b2<\/p>\n
E-cigarette-only exposure associated with more asthma flares and activity symptoms<\/p>\n
Combined exposure was associated with activity-related symptoms (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.3; 95% CI, 1.2-1.4), nighttime symptoms (aOR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.2-1.4), and albuterol use (aOR, 1.2; 95% CI, 1.1-1.3).\u00b2 It was also associated with hospital admissions in the past year (aOR, 1.2; 95% CI, 1.1-1.3) and uncontrolled asthma status (aOR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.2-1.6).\u00b2 Associations extended to worse parent rating of asthma control (aOR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.1-1.4) and lower parental comfort with asthma management (aOR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.1-1.5).\u00b2<\/p>\n
E-cigarette-only exposure was associated with more asthma flares (aOR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.1-1.4) and activity-related symptoms (aOR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.2-1.5).\u00b2 Tobacco-only exposure showed more modest but significant associations across multiple domains.\u00b2 Parent-reported emergency department or urgent care utilization and oral steroid use were not significantly associated with any exposure type after adjustment.\u00b2<\/p>\n
Jenssen said the findings reinforce the need for pediatric care teams “to screen for all forms of household nicotine and tobacco use” and to offer cessation support for both as part of routine asthma care.\u00b9 The authors concluded the results underscore the importance of comprehensive tobacco cessation counseling for families, covering both combustible and electronic products.\u00b2<\/p>\n
Because the study was cross-sectional, the findings reflect associations rather than causation. Both exposure and asthma control outcomes were reported by parents.<\/p>\n
References<\/p>\n
American Academy of Pediatrics. E-cigarettes, tobacco in-home exposure linked to children’s asthma flare-ups. Eurekalert. October 2, 2026. Accessed October 2, 2026. https:\/\/www.eurekalert.org\/news-releases\/1145252Jenssen B, Ramachandran J, Jeritt T, et al. Parent-reported household tobacco and e-cigarette exposure and asthma control in children: a cross-sectional study. Abstract presented at: American Academy of Pediatrics 2026 National Conference & Exhibition; October 2-6, 2026; San Diego, CA. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Investigators used electronic health record data from an urban primary care network from July 2023 to March 2026.\u00b2…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[134,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-620718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}