171629 Exposure to secondhand smoke in Wisconsin homes: Trends and strategies for reduction

Monday, October 27, 2008

David Ahrens, MS , Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI
Our interest in this topic is driven by the pervasive and on-going negative health effects of secondhand smoke in homes. Household exposure has particularly adverse effects on children. Our analyses revealed the following major findings:

• Approximately 211,000 children in Wisconsin are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke in their homes.

• Households without a smoker were more than twice as likely to have a no-smoking policy as those with a smoker in 2003.

• Between 1995 and 2003, the prevalence of no-smoking policies increased among homes with and without smokers.

• Fifty-eight percent of homes with smokers allowed smoking in the last seven days. Three-quarters of those homes allowed smoking on each day.

Promising and evidence-based strategies to reduce home exposure to secondhand smoke include promoting parental cessation in homes with the greatest risk, tailoring public campaigns to “take it outside” to specific sub-populations and creating smoke free public places. Given limitations of public policies on home smoking practices, research on new methods of conducting public education and individual interventions by health providers is essential.

Learning Objectives:
Identify issues concerning reliability of survey interviews in reports of household smoking. Describe trends and current exposure of children to secondhand smoke. Articulate three strategies to reduce secondhand smoke at the community and individual level.

Keywords: Tobacco Control, Pediatrics

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: of ten years of research, educational activities and policy research in the field of tobacco control.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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