Most pediatricians ask parents whether they smoke and advise them to stop if they do, but few follow through with smoking-cessation interventions, a survey of Ohio doctors reveals.

Medical News Today reported Sept. 3 that the survey found that 80 percent of Ohio pediatricians asked about parental smoking, but only 16 percent recommended nicotine-replacement therapy.

And while 80 percent of pediatricians considered environmental tobacco smoke a significant health hazard for children, about a quarter described smoking-cessation counseling of parents as a waste of time or of limited value.

"Pediatricians felt that 'the parent is not the patient,'" noted lead researcher Joseph Dake, Ph.D., of the University of Toledo. "Our take is that their smoking status is one of the most important environmental factors in the health of the child." Experts said that most parents would accept stop-smoking advice from their child's doctor.

Pediatricians said that lack of time, reimbursement, and knowledge about smoking cessation and related resources presented barriers to smoking interventions. However, a recently developed free program called Clinical Effort Against Secondhand Smoke Exposure (CEASE) provides advice and instruction to pediatricians.

The study appears in the September/October 2006 issue of the American Journal of Health Behavior.