BACKGROUND Little research exists on exposure to the health risks of secondhand smoke among women and children in African immigrant communities. PURPOSE This exploratory study aims to understand the prevalence of secondhand smoke exposure; assess levels of awareness of the dangers of secondhand smoke; and identify strategies for building increased awareness of these issues in African immigran...

INTRODUCTION Tobacco smoke is a source of exposure to thousands of toxic chemicals including lead, a chemical of longstanding public health concern. We assessed trends in blood lead levels in youths and adults with cotinine-verified tobacco smoke exposure by using 10 years of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. METHODS Geometric mean levels of blood lead are presen...

Exposure to secondhand smoke from burning tobacco products causes premature death and disease, including coronary heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer among nonsmoking adults and sudden infant death syndrome, acute respiratory infections, middle ear disease, exacerbated asthma, respiratory symptoms, and decreased lung function in children (1,2). The U.S. Surgeon General has concluded that the...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES The aim was to investigate the prevalence of secondhand smoke exposure and active smoking in the Spanish population following the introduction of an anti-smoking law. METHODS This cross-sectional study involved a telephone survey (in June and July 2006) of a representative sample of the Spanish population aged at least 18 years-old (1221 men and 1301 women). The pr...

BACKGROUND On 1 July 2007, smokefree legislation was implemented in England, which made virtually all enclosed public places and workplaces smokefree. OBJECTIVES We examined trends in and predictors of secondhand smoke exposure among nonsmoking adults to determine whether exposure changed after the introduction of smokefree legislation and whether these changes varied by socioeconomic status ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relative contribution of occupational vs. non-occupational secondhand tobacco smoke exposure to overall hair nicotine concentrations in non-smoking bar and restaurant employees. METHOD We recruited 76 non-smoking employees from venues that allowed smoking (n=9), had mixed policies (smoking and non-smoking areas, n=13) or were smoke-free (n=2) between April and August...

BACKGROUND Earlier studies have shown an association between secondhand tobacco smoke and allergy development in children. Furthermore, there is an increased risk of developing an allergy if the parents have an allergy. However, there are only few studies investigating the potential synergistic effect of secondhand tobacco smoke and allergic heredity on the development of an allergy. METHODS ...

Secondhand smoke increases the risk of fatal and nonfatal coronary heart disease by about 30% (1,2). This effect, while appearing consistently in many epidemiologic studies, is larger than one would expect based on the dose of smoke that passive smokers receive compared with smokers (2): the effect is about one third that observed in smokers whereas the relative dose of smoke is much smaller. P...