Smoking at home and during pregnancy has been linked to the deaths of four children in County Durham and Darlington .
The cases, which were all reviewed by council chiefs last year (2018/19), identified tobacco use as a possible factor in the tragedies.
The latest findings also highlighted issues including substance abuse by parents, mental health problems and access to health services.
"Smoking in pregnancy is one of the areas which has come out [of the annual report]," said Gill O'Neill, Durham County Council's deputy director of public health.
"[The council] is highlighting the importance of tobacco dependency, a modifiable factor which could prevent future deaths of children."
O'Neill was speaking at this morning's (Wednesday, November 27) meeting of the county council's Health and Wellbeing Board, which heard a presentation on the annual report of the Child Death Overview Panel for County Durham and Darlington.
According to the report, 24 children from County Durham and four from Darlington died in 2018/19, while the panel reviewed a total of 39 cases, covering a period from 2015 - 2019.
Of the deaths assessed, 69 per cent were less than a year old when they died.
Among the findings' recommendations was a public awareness campaign on the use of paracetamol and potential 'dangers of using it regularly'.
