Maternal Asthma and Maternal Smoking Are Associated With Increased Risk of Bronchiolitis During Infancy

Maternal asthma and maternal smoking during pregnancy are independently associated with the development of bronchiolitis in term, non-low birth weight infants without preexisting cardiac or pulmonary disease. The risk of bronchiolitis among infants with mothers who both have asthma and smoke during pregnancy is approximately 50% greater than that of infants with neither risk factor. Efforts to decrease the illness associated with these 2 risk factors will lead to decreased morbidity from bronchiolitis, the leading cause of hospitalization for severe lower respiratory tract infections during infancy.