Tobacco Smoke Exposure According to Location of Home Smoking in Israel: Findings from the Project Zero Exposure Study

Laura J. Rosen (), David M. Zucker, Shannon Gravely, Michal Bitan, Ana M. Rule and Vicki Myers
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Laura J. Rosen: Department of Health Promotion, School of Public Health, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
David M. Zucker: Department of Statistics and Data Science, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 9190501, Israel
Shannon Gravely: Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Michal Bitan: Department of Health Promotion, School of Public Health, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
Ana M. Rule: Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
Vicki Myers: Department of Health Promotion, School of Public Health, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: Young children are particularly vulnerable to harms from tobacco smoke exposure (TSE). This study aimed to compare TSE: (1) between children who live in smoking families and those who do not; and (2) among children who live in smoking households with varying smoking locations. The data came from two studies that were conducted concurrently in Israel (2016–2018). Study 1: a randomized controlled trial of smoking families ( n = 159); Study 2: a cohort study of TSE among children in non-smoking families ( n = 20). Hair samples were collected from one child in each household. Baseline hair nicotine data were analyzed for 141 children in Study 1 and 17 children in Study 2. Using a logistic regression analysis (exposed vs. not exposed as per laboratory determination) and a linear regression (log hair nicotine), we compared TSE between: (1) children in Study 1 vs. Study 2; (2) children in families with different smoking locations in Study 1: balcony; garden, yard, or other place outside of the home; or inside the home (designated smoking areas within the home (DSAs) or anywhere). A higher proportion of children living in smoking households were measurably exposed to tobacco smoke (68.8%) compared to children living in non-smoking households (35.3%, p = 0.006). Among children from smoking families, 75.0% of those whose parents smoked in the house were exposed, while 61.8% of children whose parents restricted smoking to the porch ( n = 55) were exposed, and 71.4% of those whose parents smoked outside the home (including gardens and yards) ( n = 42) were exposed. In univariable and multivariable models, smoking location was not significantly associated with exposure. The majority of children in smoking families were measurably exposed to TSE, even if smoking was restricted to designated areas in the home, balconies, orgarden/yard/other outdoor areas. Reducing population smoking rates, particularly among parents, restricting smoking to at least 10 meters from homes and children, and denormalizing smoking around others are recommended to reduce population-level child TSE and tobacco-attributable disease and death.

Keywords: children; tobacco smoke exposure; home-smoking; hair nicotine; biomarker; home smoking rules (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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