Prevalence of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in a urban population

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: We decided to assess the overall prevalence of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) both in general and according to the settings of exposure (home, workplace and leisure time). SUBJECTS AND METHOD: We analyzed cross-sectional data of ETS exposure in 1,059 non-smokers included in the Cornella Health Interview Survey Follow-up (CHIS-FU) study. We calculated the crude and age-standardized prevalence of ETS exposure in general and in the different settings. RESULTS: 69.5% (confidence interval [CI] 95%, 64.5%-74.4%) of men and 62.9% (CI 95%, 58.1%-67.6%) of women of the sample studied were exposed to ETS. We observed a decreasing trend of ETS exposure by age in both sexes. The age-standardized prevalence rates of ETS exposure according to the environment and sex were: 25.9% (95% CI, 21.8%-30.1%) at home, 55.1% (95% CI, 50.8%-59.4%) during leisure time and 34.0% (95% CI, 23.5%-45.6%) in the workplace in men and 34.1% (95% CI, 29.8%-38.5%), 44.3 (95% CI, 40.5%-48.2%) and 30.1% (95% CI, 18.9%-41.3%), respectively, in women. CONCLUSION: In this study, more than half of non-smokers were exposed to ETS.