Smoke-free laws and secondhand smoke exposure in US non-smoking adults, 1999–2002

• Published in: Tobacco control Vol. 15; no. 4; pp. 302 - 307
• Main Authors: Pickett, Melanie S, Schober, Susan E, Brody, Debra J, Curtin, Lester R, Giovino, Gary A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 01.08.2006; BMJ Publishing Group; BMJ Publishing Group LTD; BMJ Group
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; American Nonsmoker’s Rights Foundation; ANRF; Biomarkers - blood; Cardiovascular disease; Cigarette smoking; cotinine; Cotinine - blood; Cross-Sectional Studies; Environmental Exposure - analysis; Environmental Exposure - legislation & jurisprudence; Estimates; Ethnicity; Exposure; Female; Gender; Health care statistics; Hispanic Americans; Humans; Laboratories; Legal evidence; limit of detection; LOD; Logistic Models; Lung cancer; Male; masked variance unit; MEC; Men; Mexican American education; Middle Aged; mobile examination centre; MVU; National Center for Health Statistics; National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; NCHS; NHANES; Nutritional status; Passive smoking; Population; Preventive medicine; primary sampling unit; PSU; Regression analysis; Research Paper; Restaurants; Restaurants - legislation & jurisprudence; Secondhand smoke; SHS; Smoke; Smoking; Smoking - legislation & jurisprudence; Tobacco smoke; Tobacco Smoke Pollution - analysis; Tobacco Smoke Pollution - legislation & jurisprudence; Tobacco smoking; United States; Variables; Workplaces; United States
• ISSN: 0964-4563; 1468-3318
• DOI: 10.1136/tc.2005.015073

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between smoke-free law coverage and secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure in the United States non-smoking adult population. Design: We used data from the 1999–2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a cross-sectional survey designed to monitor the health and nutritional status of the US population. Serum cotinine levels were available for 5866 non-smoking adults from 57 survey locations. Each location was categorised into one of three groups indicating extensive, limited, and no coverage by a smoke-free law. Main outcome measures: The proportion of adults with SHS exposure, defined as having serum cotinine levels ⩾ 0.05 ng/ml. Results: Among non-smoking adults living in counties with extensive smoke-free law coverage, 12.5% were exposed to SHS, compared with 35.1% with limited coverage, and 45.9% with no law. Adjusting for confounders, men and women residing in counties with extensive coverage had 0.10 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.06 to 0.16) and 0.19 (95% CI 0.11 to 0.34) times the odds of SHS exposure compared to those residing in counties without a smoke-free law. Conclusions: These results support the scientific evidence suggesting that smoke-free laws are an effective strategy for reducing SHS exposure.