Children's residential exposure to environmental tobacco smoke varies greatly between the Nordic countries

Abstract

Objective: To assess similarities and differences in the Nordic countries regarding ETS (environmental tobacco smoke) exposure in young children.

Design: A population-based cross-sectional study comprising a randomly selected sample of 5,500 households which included a child born in 1992. Data were collected using a mailed anonymous questionnaire.

Results: While the prevalence of household smoking was similar in all countries, there was a great difference between the countries with regard to child ETS exposure. Finnish parents were more likely than all other Nordic parents to protect their children from ETS and the situation was worst in Denmark and Iceland, where almost half of all households, and nine out of ten households containing daily smokers, exposed their children. Approximately eight out of ten current and former smokers in all countries stated that they had made efforts to change their smoking habits because of their children.

Keywords

children environmental tobacco smoke ETS indoor environment passive smoking.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Sommerville SM , Rona RJ , Chinn S. Passive smoking and respiratory conditions in primary school children. J Epidemiol Commun Health 1988; 42: 105-10.

Gortmaker SL , Walker DJ , Jacobs FH , Ruch-Ross H. Parental smoking and the risk of childhood asthma. Am J Public Health 1982 ; 72: 574-9.

Forastiére F. , Corbo GM , Michelozzi P. , et al. Effects of environment and passive smoking on the respiratory health of children. Int J Epidemiol 1992; 21: 66-73.

Stanton WR , Silva PA Children's exposure to smoking. Int J Epidemiol 1991; 20: 933-7.

Murray M. , Kiryluk S. , Swan AV Relation between parents' and children's smoking behaviour and attitudes. J Epidemiol Commun Health 1985; 39: 169-74.

Skogen PG , Slördal S. Akutte astmainnleggingar. Ei registrering av akutte astmainnleggingar ved Barneklinikken, Regionsykehuset i Trondheim, 1988 (Acute admissions of asthmatic patients. Registration of acute admissions of patients with asthma at the pediatric clinic, Regional Hospital of Trondheim, 1988). Tidskr Nor Laegeforen 1991; 111: 2732-4.

Aas K. , Andersen T. , Becher R. , Berner M. , Holmen TL Barns innemiljø. En undersøkelse av norske boliger (The indoor environment for children. An investigation of Norwegian dwellings). Tidskr Nor Laegeforen 1995; 115: 2048-51.

Emerson JA , Wahlgren DR , Hovell MF , Meltzer SB , Zakarin JM , Hofstetter CR Parent smoking and asthmatic children's exposure patterns: a behavioral epidemiology study. Addict Behav 1994; 19: 677-89.

Wright AL , Holberg C. , Martinez FD , Taussig LM Relationship of parental smoking to wheezing and non-wheezing lower respiratory tract illness in infancy. J Pedriatics 1991 ; 118: 207-14.

10.

Arnold C. , Makintube S. , Istre GR Daycare attendance and other risk factors for invasive Haemophilus Influenzae type b disease. Am J Epidemiol 1993; 138: 333-40.

11.

Hinton AE , Herdman RC , Martin-Hirsch D. , Saeed SR Parental cigarette smoking and tonsillectomy in children. Clin Otolaryngol 1993; 18: 178-80.

12.

Fidler W. , Lambert TW The influence of the adult role model of smoking on children aged 3-5 years. The Keith Durrant Project. Report. 1994.

13.

Brenner H. , Mielck A. Children's exposure to parental smoking in West-Germany. Int J Epidemiol 1993; 22: 818-23.

14.

Kay J. , Mortimer MJ , Jaron AG Do both paternal and maternal smoking influence the prevalence of childhood asthma? A study into the prevalence of asthma in children and the effects of parental smoking. J Asthma 1995; 32: 47-55.

15.

Cook DG , Whincup PH , Jarvis MJ , Strachan DP , Papacosta O. , Bryant A. Passive smoking to tobacco smoke in children aged 5-7 years: individual, family and community factors. Br Med J 1994; 308: 384-9.

16.

Stanton WR , Silva PA Tracking change in the patterns of parental smoking. J R Soc Health 1993; 113: 12-16.

17.

Andreski P. , Breslau N. Maternal smoking among blacks and whites. Soc Sci Med 1995; 41: 227-33.

18.

Jaakkola N. , Ruotsalainen R. , Jaakkola J.

What are the determinants of children's exposure to environmental tobacco smoke athome?

Scand J Soc Med 1994; 2:107-12.

19.

Hatziandreu EJ , Pierce JP , Fiore MC , et al. The reliability of self-reported cigarette consumption in the United States. Am J Public Health 1989; 79: 1020-30.

20.

Wagenknecht LE , Burke GL , Perkins LL , Haley NJ , Friedman GD Misclassification of smoking status in the CARDIA study: a comparison of self-report with serum cotinine levels. Am J Public Health 1992; 82: 33-6.

21.

Jarvis MJ The association between having children, family size and smoking cessation in adults. Addiction 1996; 91: 427-34.

22.

Delfino RJ , Ernst P. , Jaakkola MS , Solomon S. , Becklake MR Questionnaire assessments of recent exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in relation to salivary cotinine. Eur Respir J 1993; 6: 1104-8.