Prevalence and Associated Factors of Secondhand Smoke Exposure among Internal Chinese Migrant Women of Reproductive Age: Evidence from China's Labor-Force Dynamic Survey.

Xiao Gong,Xiaofeng Luo,Li Ling

doi:10.3390/ijerph13040371

Abstract

Secondhand smoke (SHS) is a major risk factor for poor health outcomes among women in China, where proportionately few women smoke. This is especially the case as it pertains to women’s reproductive health, specifically migrant women who are exposed to SHS more than the population at large. There are several factors which may increase migrant women’s risk of SHS exposure. This paper aims to investigate the prevalence and associated factors of SHS exposure among internal Chinese migrant women of reproductive age. The data used were derived from the 2014 Chinese Labor Dynamic Survey, a national representative panel survey. The age-adjusted rate of SHS exposure of women of reproductive age with migration experience was of 43.46% (95% CI: 40.73%–46.40%), higher than those without migration experience (35.28% (95% CI: 33.66%–36.97%)). Multivariate analysis showed that participants with a marital status of “Widowed” had statistically lower exposure rates, while those with a status of “Cohabitation” had statistically higher exposure. Those with an undergraduate degree or above had statistically lower SHS exposure. Those with increasing levels of social support, and those who currently smoke or drink alcohol, had statistically higher SHS exposure. Participants’ different work-places had an effect on their SHS exposure, with outdoor workers statistically more exposed. Our findings suggest that urgent tobacco control measures should be taken to reduce smoking prevalence and SHS exposure. Specific attention should be paid to protecting migrant women of reproductive age from SHS.

Highlights

Tobacco use is a worldwide public health problem, and is a major preventable risk factor of diseases and death [1]
The age-adjusted rate of Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure of women of reproductive age with migration experience was of 43.46%, higher than those without migration experience (35.28%)
Multivariate analysis showed that participants with a marital status of “Widowed” had statistically lower exposure rates, while those with a status of “Cohabitation” had statistically higher exposure

Summary

Introduction

Tobacco use is a worldwide public health problem, and is a major preventable risk factor of diseases and death [1]. Estimated total tobacco-attributable deaths will reach 8.3 million in 2030, mainly from low- and middle-income countries [2]. Secondhand smoke (SHS) is almost as risky as smoking itself. SHS impairs the health of those exposed [3,4,5], and leads to adverse reproductive outcomes for exposed reproductive women, such as infertility [6], spontaneous abortion [7], low birthweight [8], preterm birth [9,10,11], infant death [12], and is dangerous to the health of children [13,14]. China has a high tobacco prevalence and high levels of secondhand smoke exposure, which results in a high smoking-related disease burden that is still on the rise [15,16]. As reported by the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) [17], in 2010, an estimated 28.1% of adults in China

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