Tobacco.org

• Hospital shock for kids of smokers 

CHILDREN of smokers are a shocking 70 per cent more likely to end up in hospital than youngsters whose parents don't light up, according to a top medic.

And Dr Iolo Doull, consultant respiratory paediatrician at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, claims about a third of youngsters he treats are there because of chest-related problems linked to passive smoking in the home.

Dr Doull said: "If either parent smokes your chances of having a chest problem are 20 per cent greater and chances of having an ear problem are 60 per cent greater. Sudden infant death syndrome, or cot death, is twice that in mothers who smoke.

"Basically, you're more likely to have coughing and wheezing in the first two years of life. The risks of coming into hospital are 70 per cent greater than if you have got parents who don't smoke."

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