Association of passive smoking with respiratory symptoms and clinical correlates, among married women, in a rural community in Islamabad.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the association of passive smoking with respiratory symptoms and clinical correlates in married women in a rural area of Pakistan. METHOD A Cross-sectional study was carried out on married women of Nurpur Shahan (rural Islamabad) by means of an Interviewer administered questionnaire. Systematic sampling of households was done. A total of 296 women were surveyed. The study period extended from January to July 2009. All data was entered and analyzed using SPSS v 10.0. RESULTS The two major respiratory symptoms that were found to be associated with passive smoking were sinusitis [adjusted O.R(95% CI) 2.2 (1.3 - 3.5), p = 0.001] and cough [adjusted O.R (95% CI) 2.4 (1.2 - 4.8), p = 0.017]. Wood used as fuel for cooking purposes also contributed to one of the symptoms such as headache (p = 0.007). The pulse rate (79 +/- 11 beats/min) of the passive smoking women was statistically significantly higher than the pulse rate (76 +/- 9 beats/min) of the non-passive smoking women (p = 0.012). CONCLUSION Passive smoking was found to be associated with respiratory symptoms among married women in this study. Higher pulse rate was associated with passive smoking.