Aussie study links asthma to smoking

Australian scientists who spent nearly 40 years on a research program say asthma in adults can be the result of maternal smoking.

Professor Haydn Walters of the University of Tasmania told a symposium on asthma in Hobart the results of research that began in 1968 holds worldwide significance.

"We knew from earlier studies that maternal smoking can trigger childhood asthma but now we find it is actually important in people who get asthma later on," Walters was quoted saying by the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

"Among adults, about half of them developed asthma only after reaching adulthood and they did not suffer from it as children," he said.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International