Abstract
China signed the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and conducted a series of activities to protect people from secondhand smoke exposure. This paper explores the changes in prevalence of secondhand smoke exposure among nonsmokers between 2010 and 2015. Data from the 2010 Global Adult Tobacco Survey and 2015 National Adult Tobacco Survey were used in this study. Due to the complex sample design for these surveys, data were weighted and analyzed using the SAS 9.3 complex survey data analysis procedure. The Chi-square test was used for comparison among different groups. From 2010 to 2015, secondhand smoke exposure among nonsmokers decreased in restaurants, government buildings, health-care facilities, schools, and public transportation in China (p<0.05). The relative change was most significant for schools (52.1%), followed by public transportation (49.4%) and government buildings (42.2%). The percentage of secondhand smoke exposure reported in workplaces declined from 55.2% to 45.3%. Secondhand smoke exposure at home reduced from 58.3% to 46.7%. People's awareness that secondhand smoke could cause heart disease in adults, lung illness in children, and lung cancer in adults increased from 24.6% to 36.0%. Additionally, support for smoke-free policies is high among the Chinese population. Even for restaurants, where support for smoke-free policies was lowest, 75.1% of nonsmokers and 55.3% of smokers supported smoke-free policies. Secondhand smoke exposure declined from 2010 to 2015 in China but remains a serious problem. Public awareness about the hazards of secondhand smoke is increasing and Chinese people support smoke-free laws.
Highlights
Tobacco use kills approximately 7 million people globally every year and is a significant threat to health and development (World Health Organization, 2017)
The relative change was most significant for schools (52.1%), followed by public transportation (49.4%) and government buildings (42.2%)
The proportion of nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke in other public places included: 32.0% in government buildings, 24.2% in health-care facilities, 17.1% in schools, and 16.1% on public transportation
Summary
Tobacco use kills approximately 7 million people globally every year and is a significant threat to health and development (World Health Organization, 2017). There are 316 million smokers and about 44% of the cigarettes consumed globally are smoked in China (Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016; Michael et al, 2015). More than 1 million Chinese die of tobacco-related diseases each year and secondhand smoke exposure remains a serious public health problem (Ministry of Health, 2012). In 2013, the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued a notice requiring leading officials to set an example through their own actions, by avoiding tobacco use in public places and supporting the implementation of smoke-free policies (The State Council of the People’s Republic of China, 2013). China signed the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and conducted a series of activities to protect people from secondhand smoke exposure. Results: From 2010 to 2015, secondhand smoke exposure among nonsmokers decreased in restaurants, government buildings, health-care facilities, schools, and public transportation in China (p
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