295378
Validation of secondhand smoke exposure self-reported measures and the associations of secondhand smoke exposure with respiratory symptoms
Methods: A telephone interview assessing a range of SHS exposure sources within different time frames (e.g. past 7 days, 30 days, 3 months), respiratory symptoms, and quality of life was completed in 263 self-reported non-smoker adults recruited from the 2010-2011 Florida Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Following their interview, each participant was asked to return by mail a hair and saliva sample. The data collection process was concluded two months ago. For the data analysis, Kappa statistics were used to test for agreement between the biological and self-reported indicators of recent SHS exposure, and Pearson correlation coefficients were used for agreement between biomarkers. Chi-square tests were used to test for associations between SHS exposure and respiratory symptoms.
Results: A moderate positive correlation was found between nicotine and cotinine (r = 0.51). SHS exposure based on salivary cotinine and hair nicotine showed poor agreement with self-reported SHS exposures in the last 7 days (K =-0.15, K=0.21). The strongest associations with respiratory symptoms (e.g. wheezing and coughing up phlegm) were found with objective SHS measures (p<0.05).
Conclusions: Results indicate that objective measures of SHS exposure may provide more accurate prevalence estimates and may be more predictive of respiratory symptoms than self-reported measures.
Learning Areas:
EpidemiologyPublic health or related research
Learning Objectives:
Evaluate the validity of self-reported recent secondhand smoke exposure measures with the use of empirical biomarkers.
Identify whether there is an association of participants’ SHS exposure with their recent respiratory symptoms.
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am currently a second year student in the MPH program at the University of Miami, as well as a graduate research assistant in the Department of Public Health Sciences. I conducted some of the data collection and carried out the analysis for this study. Among my scientific interests has been secondhand smoking policy and chronic disease epidemiology.
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.