Health Effects Of Passive Smoking Research Articles

Does passive smoking increase the frequency of health service contacts in children with asthma?

BACKGROUNDPassive smoking is a major cause of respiratory morbidity in children. However, few studies give accurate estimates of the health effects of passive smoking in children with asthma using an...

Smoking: rates and attitudes among nursing staff in central Sydney.

The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence and predictors of smoking and attitudes to smoking-related issues among nurses employed by the Central Sydney Area Health Service in Sydney, Australia. A self-administered questionnaire, was distributed via the internal mail system of the Central Sydney Area Health Service in November 1997 to 610 randomly selected nursing staff. Twenty-one per cent (n = 127) of respondents smoked. Smokers were significantly younger than non-smokers and were more likely to speak mainly English at home. There were clear differences between smokers and non-smokers in response to all attitude statements. Interventions specifically directed at nurses who smoke to assist them to stop and maintain cessation are indicated. Future health service workplace tobacco control programmes should address deficits in knowledge about the health effects of passive smoking, should raise awareness among nurses who smoke about their potential to affect the behaviours of others through modelling, and should provide all nurses with the skills required to be smoking educators and advocates for tobacco control.

Print media coverage of research on passive smoking

OBJECTIVETo assess the extent and content of newspaper and magazine coverage of research on passive smoking.DESIGNContent analysis of newspaper and magazine articles.SUBJECTSArticles reporting on passive smoking research published in newspapers...

Why review articles on the health effects of passive smoking reach different conclusions.

To determine whether the conclusions of review articles on the health effects of passive smoking are associated with article quality, the affiliations of their authors, or other article characteristics. Review articles published from 1980 to 1995 were identified through electronic searches of MEDLINE and EMBASE and from a database of symposium proceedings on passive smoking. An article was included if its stated or implied purpose was to review the scientific evidence that passive smoking is associated with 1 or more health outcomes. Articles were excluded if they did not focus specifically on the health effects of passive smoking or if they were not written in English. Review article quality was evaluated by 2 independent assessors who were trained, followed a written protocol, had no disclosed conflicts of interest, and were blinded to all study hypotheses and identifying characteristics of articles. Article conclusions were categorized by the 2 assessors and by one of the authors. Author affiliation was classified as either tobacco industry affiliated or not, based on whether the authors were known to have received funding from or participated in activities sponsored by the tobacco industry. Other article characteristics were classified by one of the authors using predefined criteria. A total of 106 reviews were identified. Overall, 37% (39/106) of reviews concluded that passive smoking is not harmful to health; 74% (29/39) of these were written by authors with tobacco industry affiliations. In multiple logistic regression analyses controlling for article quality, peer review status, article topic, and year of publication, the only factor associated with concluding that passive smoking is not harmful was whether an author was affiliated with the tobacco industry (odds ratio, 88.4; 95% confidence interval, 16.4-476.5; P<.001). The conclusions of review articles are strongly associated with the affiliations of their authors. Authors of review articles should disclose potential financial conflicts of interest, and readers of review articles should consider authors' affiliations when deciding how to judge an article's conclusions.

Health effects of passive smoking .5. Parental smoking and allergic sensitisation in children.

BACKGROUND: A systematic review was conducted of the effects of parental smoking on immunoglobulin (IgE) levels, skin prick positivity, and allergic rhinitis or eczema in children. Asthma was excluded in...

Health effects of passive smoking. 4. Parental smoking, middle ear disease and adenotonsillectomy in children.

BACKGROUND: A systematic quantitative review was conducted of evidence relating parental smoking to acute otitis media, recurrent otitis media, middle ear effusion, and adenoidectomy and/or tonsillectomy. METHODS: Forty five relevant...

Health effects of passive smoking. 3. Parental smoking and prevalence of respiratory symptoms and asthma in school age children.

BACKGROUND: A systematic quantitative review of the evidence relating parental smoking to the prevalence of asthma and respiratory symptoms was conducted amongst school age children. METHODS: Sixty relevant studies were...

Health effects of passive smoking. 1. Parental smoking and lower respiratory illness in infancy and early childhood.

BACKGROUND: A systematic quantitative review was conducted of evidence relating parental smoking to acute lower respiratory illness in the first three years of life. METHODS: Fifty relevant publications were identified...

Dietary and lifestyle correlates of passive smoking in Hong Kong, Japan, Sweden, and the U.S.A.

From epidemiologic studies in several countries, passive smoking has been associated with increased risk for lung cancer, respiratory diseases, and coronary heart disease. Since the relative risks derived from those studies are weak, i.e. relative risk less than two, we investigated whether poorer diets and less healthy lifestyles might act as confounders and be correlated with having a smoking husband on a cross-cultural basis. Characteristics of never-smoked wives with or without smoking husbands were compared between 530 women from Hong Kong, 13,047 from Japan, 87 from Sweden, and 144 from the U.S. In all four sites, wives with smoking husbands generally ate less healthy diets. They had a tendency to eat more fried food but less fruit than wives with nonsmoking husbands. Other healthy traits, e.g. avoiding obesity, dietary cholesterol and alcohol, or taking vitamins and participating in preventive screening were also less prevalent among wives with smoking husbands. These patterns suggest that never-smoked wives with smoking husbands tend to share the same less healthy dietary traits characteristic of smokers, and to have dietary habits associated with increased risk for lung cancer and heart disease in their societies. These results emphasize the need to take into account the potential confounding effects of diet and lifestyle in studies evaluating the health effects of passive smoking, especially since it is known that the current prevalence rates of smoking among men is indirectly associated with social class and education in affluent urban societies.

1290 Smoking and cancer: Nursing implications

Individuals who smoke are at greater risk for developing certain cancers and other smoking related illness. In addition, the health effects of passive smoking are becoming more evident. In 1995, 750,000 people in Europe will die of a smoking related illness. Cancer contributes significantly to this mortality. Nurses are dedicated to the promotion of health and health care and the support of individuals that pass through the health care system. They also have close contact with their patients and therefore can use this contact to promote healthy behaviors by providing education which includes role modelling and health care promotion. Oncology nurses must develop strategies to apply these principles in their practice. With the increased costs of health care, nurses will be forced to face promoting health care with limited financial resources. How can oncology nurses do this optimally? By applying the principles of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention in their practice, efficiency for the patient and the health care system can be achieved.

Environmental Tobacco Smoke: Science vs. Rhetoric

After an extensive review and analysis of the scientific evidence on the respiratory health effects of passive smoking, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concluded that environmental tobacco smoke causes lung cancer in adult nonsmokers and increases the risk of a variety of non‐cancer respiratory disorders, especially in children. This article is a response to claims in Dr. Gio Gori's article “Policy Against Science: The Case of Environmental Tobacco Smoke,” appearing in the same issue of this journal, that such conclusions are unwarranted. This response focuses only on the respiratory health effects of environmental tobacco smoke.

Medical students' contribution to the development of a smoke-free hospital policy in a university medical centre: a relevant learning experience.

In a research methodology course, second-year medical students conducted a survey on 'Enforcing a Smoking Ban in the Soroka Medical Center: a Survey of Hospital Employees on Facilitating Factors and Obstacles'. They defined the study objectives and design, developed the study instrument, carried out the survey, coded and entered the data into mainframe computers, analysed the computer output, and prepared oral and written reports. The aims of the project were twofold: to survey employees' attitudes to a hospital smoking ban and to train medical students in the planning and conduct of a research project on public health or preventive medicine. Twelve students conducted a cross-sectional survey of 208 hospital employees (10% of the hospital staff). Employees were surveyed regarding smoking status, interest in quitting smoking, knowledge of the law banning smoking in public places, knowledge of the health effects of passive smoking, attitudes towards a hospital smoking ban and potential obstacles to its implementation. The students rated the course as excellent. They gained important research skills, as well as practical medical and public health experience through active participation in the design and execution of a study project with public health implications. At the first meeting of the hospital committee appointed to enforce a smoke-free hospital, the students' findings were reported in full, and their recommendations have guided policy decisions.

Active and Passive Tobacco Exposure: A Serious Pediatric Health Problem

Tobacco use and passive exposure to tobacco smoke are the most important environmental health hazards in the United States. Over 400 000 deaths each year are attributed to smoking and using other tobacco products.1 Although most of these deaths are in adults, in recent years the pediatric morbidity of tobacco use has received increasing attention. In 1992 the Environmental Protection Agency published Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders, which highlighted the adverse effects of passive smoke exposure on children.2 The Surgeon General's Report of 1994, entitled Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People, provides a comprehensive review of the impact of cigarette smoking on youth.3

Environmental tobacco smoke. Health effects and prevention policies. Council on Scientific Affairs, American Medical Association

The US Environmental Protection Agency report released in January 1993, Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders, has stirred considerable discussion and interest in the issues surrounding tobacco and health. The report addresses major health effects of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), concluding (1) that ETS is causally associated with lung cancer in nonsmoking adults and should be classified as a group A, or known human carcinogen, with approximately 3000 excess deaths yearly; (2) that ETS produces an increased risk of development of acute lower respiratory tract irritation, asthma, and acute lower respiratory tract infections in children exposed in the home; and (3) that ETS is associated with an increase risk of sudden infant death syndrome. Other studies implicate ETS in between 35,000 and 40,000 premature deaths each year from cardiovascular disease. The Council on Scientific Affairs (CSA) agrees that ETS should be classified as a human carcinogen, and strongly supports the findings of other groups concerning both lung cancer and ETS-induced respiratory tract illnesses in children. The CSA concludes that exposure to passive smoke, whether in utero or during infancy, is associated with an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome. The CSA agrees that the available evidence suggests that ETS exposure leads to increased risk for cardiovascular disease. It is clear that these morbidity and mortality estimates represent a significant public health threat that demands attention from the health community as well as government regulatory agencies involved with health protection.

Dissent (B) Respiratory health effects of passive smoking: EPA's weight-of-evidence analysis

After an extensive review and assessment of the scientific evidence on the respiratory health effects of passive smoking, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has determined that the widespread exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in the United States presents a serious and substantial public health impact. The Environmental Protection Agency concluded that environmental tobacco smoke causes lung cancer in adult nonsmokers and increases the risk for a variety of noncancer respiratory disorders, especially in children. This article reviews evidence presented in the Environmental Protection Agency's 1992 report on the respiratory health effects of passive smoking and responds to critical allegations levied by Gio Gori in his article ‘Science, policy, and ethics: the case of environmental tobacco smoke’, appearing in the same issue of this journal. Several recent studies appearing since the cutoff date for inclusion in the EPA report are also discussed.

Tobacco industry response to a risk assessment of environmental tobacco smoke

Tobacco industry response to a risk assessment of environmental tobacco smoke

Respiratory health effects of passive smoking: lung cancer and other disorders

This page contains a PDF version of the Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking report.

Demographic and socioeconomic differences in beliefs about the health effects of smoking.

To assess sociodemographic differences in beliefs about the health effects of cigarette smoking and passive smoke exposure, we recently surveyed 2092 adults in St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo. The percentages of respondents who knew that smoking causes lung cancer, emphysema, and heart disease were 76.7, 74.1, and 67.2, respectively. After multivariate adjustment, knowledge about smoking's health effects was generally lower among women, older respondents, those of lower education level, and current smokers. Blacks were generally less likely to appreciate the health effects of active smoking, but were more likely to acknowledge the health effects of passive smoking.

Environment tobacco smoke: A public health issue

The health effects of passive smoking (environmental tobacco smoke—ETS) are now accepted in the perceptions of both the public and the experts. ETS is considered a public health issue and a legal, legislative issue. Although there are scientific issues still to be solved, public perception and action are foremost in preventive approaches to the problem. Public policy has focused on legislative control. Further strategies will be needed, since public health history has shown that personal practices, including active smoking, are the most difficult to modify or control. The nature of the problem, and its context should be explored to reach the goals of appropriate control and public health action.

Economic aspects of addiction policy.

One definition of policy or government action in the Oxford English Dictionary is "craftiness" i.e. cunning or deceit. Such qualities have to be employed by governments because of the potential vote-losing effects of radical addiction policies. Health promotion, in relation to addictive substances such as alcohol and tobacco in particular, involves a trade-off between the costs of such policies, especially to industry (which seeks regulation to protect itself from competitors), and the benefits--improvements in the quality and length of life. Measures of such benefits (quality-adjusted life-years or QALYs) are available now to use in the evaluation of competing health promotion policies to determine their efficiency at the margin. Analysis of the market for tobacco indicates that consumption has been falling generally in the UK except among teenagers who appear to be the target of the industry's advertising and sponsorship efforts. This fall in consumption appears to be explained by health promotion rather than the active use of fiscal instruments of control. The recognition of the health effects of passive smoking and the impact of advertising and sponsorship, especially on the young, are policy areas requiring careful review and the evaluation of the costs and benefits of competing policies.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)