OBJECTIVE To investigate the hypothesis that second-hand smoke (SHS) exposure is associated with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in adolescents. DESIGN A complex, multistage, stratified geographic area design for collecting representative data from the noninstitutionalized US population. PARTICIPANTS Cross-sectional data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2005-2006) we...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of smoking among students and associated factors. METHODS Secondary data from the Vigescola Survey, conducted in the cities of Curitiba, Florianópolis and Porto Alegre (Southern Brazil) between 2002 and 2004, were used. Sample comprised 3,690 school children, aged between 13 and 15 years, and enrolled in the 7th and 8th grades of primary school and 1st gra...

Exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) during pregnancy may have adverse effects on the mother and infant. This study investigates the association of maternal exposure to SHS with low birthweight (LBW) in infants. Smoking during pregnancy has been linked to multiple complications for both mother and infant. To examine association of LBW and environmental tobacco smoke exposure during pregnancy, we ...

OBJECTIVES Students, faculty, and staff at a Pacific Northwest public university were surveyed one year after enactment of a smoke-free campus policy. Objectives were to assess levels of support for a smoke-free campus, ascertain exposure levels to outdoor tobacco smoke, and identify correlates of policy support. METHOD A 2013 Web-based survey included 5691 students (response rate 26%) and 20...

BACKGROUND The Shanghai Public Places Smoking Control Legislation was implemented in March 2010 as the first provincial-level legislation promoting smoke-free public places in China. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the compliance with this policy as well as its impact on exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS), respiratory symptoms, and related attitudes among employees in five kinds of workplaces (schools,...

Tobacco smoking is a major risk factor for a number of chronic diseases, including a variety of cancers, lung disease, and damage to the cardiovascular system. The World Health Organization recently calculated that there were six million smoking-attributable deaths per year and that this number is due to rise to about eight million per year by the end of 2030. Recent work has demonstrated that ...

The objective of the present survey was to assess the extent and socio-economic determinants of population exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) in Greece in 2011. The national household survey Hellas Health IV was conducted in October 2011. SHS exposure was based on self-reported exposure within home, workplace and public places. Thirty-three per cent of the respondents reported living in a smoke...

About a third of the world's population is exposed to secondhand smoke (SHS), despite reductions in smoking prevalence in many countries. Accurate, cost-effective measures of exposure are needed in investigations of the health risks associated with SHS, and in studies of interventions to extend smoke-free environments. There have been important developments in the use of questionnaires, air qua...

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure among infants and young children who received preventive care at pediatric preventative care clinics associated with an urban public hospital. Cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine, has been used to study SHS exposure in population-based studies of children 3 years of age or older. DESIGN Retrospective study using a convenien...