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Tobacco, Lead Could Increase ADHD Risk
Reported November 25, 2009
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Environmental factors may increase a child's
risk for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). New research
suggests exposure to both tobacco and lead may increase his or her risk by
eight-fold.
A recent study from the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center found
a connection between ADHD, prenatal tobacco exposure and childhood exposure
to lead.
“Tobacco and lead exposure each have their own important adverse effect,”
Tanya Froehlich, M.D., lead author of the study, was quoted as saying. “But
if children are exposed to both lead and prenatal tobacco, the combined
effect is synergistic.”
Authors say that society tends to focus on the treatments for ADHD rather
than prevention. Reducing the exposure to lead and tobacco could eliminate
the 35 percent, or about 800,000 of children ages eight to 15 whose ADHD is
caused by environmental exposures, according to the study.
The Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center study involved 3,907
children ages eight to 15. Prenatal tobacco exposure was determined by
maternal reports, and blood lead levels determined lead exposure.
SOURCE: Pediatrics, November 23, 2009 |
