Relevance of passive smoking in allergic rhinitis in children

• Autor(a) principal: Melo, Ana Clara Passos
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Santos, Arlete Cristina Granizo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Journal of Implantology and Health Sciences
• Texto Completo: https://bjihs.emnuvens.com.br/bjihs/article/view/595
• topic: Rinite alérgica, tabagismo passivo, crianças.; Allergic rhinitis, passive smoking, children

Introduction: Allergic rhinitis is a highly prevalent respiratory infectious disease in childhood, which has a significant impact on physical, psychological, and social well-being. Its classic symptoms include nasal obstruction, nasal discharge, itching, and sneezing. During childhood, its presentation is related to comorbidities ranging from chronic cough to asthma. Environmental factors play an important role in the development and exacerbation of allergic rhinitis in childhood, with passive smoking being among these factors. Objective: Understand the effects of passive smoking on allergic rhinitis in children. Methodology: This is a systematic review study conducted on the Pubmed, LILACS, Scielo, and IBECS platforms. The following Decs/MeSH descriptors were used: "ALLERGIC RHINITIS," "CHILDREN," "PASSIVE SMOKING," with the boolean operator "AND" and filters: "full text," "English," "Portuguese," "Spanish," within the time frame from 1999 to 2023. Articles unrelated to the topic and outside the proposed timeframe were excluded, resulting in a final sample of 29 articles. Results: According to the studies discussed, passive smoking affects the health of the global population, but children are more susceptible to its effects due to their respiratory and immune systems still being in development. Some authors have demonstrated that the connection between allergic rhinitis in children and passive cigarette exposure is mediated through the sensitization of immunoglobulin type E. However, other studies have shown that there is no relationship between allergic sensitization and cigarette exposure, while others have suggested an inverse relationship. Conclusion: Consequently, it can be concluded by the autor that involuntary exposure to cigarette smoke can lead to various detrimental effects in children with allergic rhinitis, although its exact underlying mechanism is not yet fully elucidated in the literature. Therefore, the need for further studies becomes evident to provide a more comprehensive assessment of this mechanism.