The researchers of the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine have conducted a study associated with the effects of secondhand smoking and it suggested that the children exposed to the secondhand smoke were at a greater risk of mental and behavioral disorders, including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Warning pregnant women about the harmful effects of smoking on their offspring, the report said that secondhand smoking was closely related with behavioral problems and issues of heart disorders in kids.

Dr. Bruce Lanphear, who heads the Cincinnati Children's Environmental Health Center, opined, “It's time for us to begin to prevent children's exposure to secondhand smoke if we are serious about preventing these diseases. We have sufficient evidence to prevent many of these diseases, but we don't”.

To reach to these vital conclusions, Frank Bandiera, the lead author of the study, established a link between secondhand smoke and mental health by collecting data from a sample of almost 3,000 kids ages 8 to 15 years.

The study included detailed interviews of all the kids to find out the symptoms of a mental or behavioral disorder other than measuring cotinine level in their bodies to see how much they were exposed to the secondhand smoke.

The analysis of all the responses and data was conducted by keeping the factors like age and race into consideration and the researchers found that boys exposed to secondhand smoking were exhibiting the symptoms of ADHD, depression, anxiety, and conduct disorder as compared to those with no secondhand smoke exposure.