[Passive smoking, atopy and respiratory health in schoolchildren].

Aim of the study was to verify the hypothesis that the effect of passive smoking exposure on the occurrence of respiratory symptoms and diseases is higher in children with increased individual susceptibility defined on the basis of occurrence of symptoms of atopy. Project was performed as the cross-sectional epidemiological study which comprised population of 1,534 children attending primary schools in Swietochłowice, Kedzierzyn-Koźle, Pszczyna and Kielce. On the basis of standard questionnaire an information regarding occurrence of wheezing, attacks of dyspnea with wheezing, asthma and spastic bronchitis was collected. Atopy in child was defined on the basis of occurrence of symptoms of allergy to at least one of the following allergens: house dust mites, animal dander, pollens or symptoms of food allergy confirmed by physician's diagnosis. Exposure to tobacco smoke was assessed also on the basis of the information regarding smoking given by the parents in the questionnaire. The effect of interaction atopy * passive smoking was assessed on the basis of variable called "interaction" which had three levels: level A: when exposure to passive smoking and atopy = 0, level B: when exposure to passive smoking or atopy =1 and level C: when exposure to passive smoking and atopy =1. The results of our study revealed that statistically significant relationship between interaction atopy * passive smoking on the occurrence of analyses symptoms and diseases. The occurrence of symptom/disease increased with the presence of either atopy or exposure to passive smoking and was the highest when atopy and exposure to passive smoking was present. The results of simple analyses were conformed by multivariate analyses. The results of our study suggest that the effect of environmental exposures could be higher in children with atopy.