Exposure of non-smoking US adolescents to environmental tobacco smoke in selected settings: Trends between 1999 and 2009

While tobacco control efforts in the U.S. have shown many successes, the positive results have not been equal for all population groups. Tobacco control efforts have reduced the amount of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure in the general population by 70% since 1988, but the populations that have experienced the least decline are infants and children (CDC, 2010). Research estimates that 15 million (22%) children in the U.S. are exposed to ETS each day, putting them at higher risk for development of cancers, sudden infant death syndrome, and a multitude of respiratory illnesses. Many studies have documented the dangerous effects of exposure to ETS on child health, yet few discuss exposure in specific settings including cars (ETSC), rooms (ETSR), and homes (ETSH). Since 1999, the American Legacy Foundation and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been using the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) to collect data about the self-reported frequency of ETSR, ETSC, and ETSH exposure among U.S. middle and high school students. Despite the availability of this information, there is a lack of studies examining ETSR, ETSC, and ETSH trends over the past decade, and how these compare with trends of other variables important to assessing the tobacco-related burden among adolescents. This presentation will discuss results from analyses of settings-specific trends of ETS exposure among non-smoking adolescents using 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2009 NYTS data, and discuss how this information can be used for tobacco control programs and policies at the state and national levels.