The Community Preventive Services Task Force recently posted new information about two recommendations: 1) “Reducing Tobacco Use and Secondhand Smoke Exposure: Reducing Out-of-Pocket Costs for Evidence-Based Tobacco Cessation Treatments,” available at http://www.thecommunityguide.org/tobacco/outofpocketcosts.html, and 2) “Reducing Tobacco Use and Secondhand Smoke Exposure: Quitline Intervention...

Background Exposure to tobacco smoke increases the risk for several adverse health effects in children including wheeze, asthma, and asthma exacerbation [1,2]. Accurately assessing tobacco smoke exposure is important for understanding and preventing these health effects. Questionnaires are a flexible and relatively inexpensive method of assessing exposure, but biomarkers of tobacco smoke exposu...

Changes in the lungs due to smoking include inflammation, epithelial damage, and remodeling of the airways. Airway inflammation is likely to play a critical role in the genesis and progression of tobacco smoke-induced airway disease. Soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) is involved in the metabolism of endogenous chemical mediators that play an important role in inflammation. Epoxyeicosatrienoic aci...

BACKGROUND Inhalation of secondhand smoke from tobacco results in serious health outcomes among under-five children, and yet, few studies have assessed its effect on under-five mortality. We investigated the association between frequency of exposure to household tobacco smoke and risk of under-five mortality in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). METHODS Demographic Health Survey data of under-five chi...

OBJECTIVE To describe tobacco industry consumer research to inform the development of more "socially acceptable" cigarette products since the 1970s. METHODS Analysis of previously secret tobacco industry documents. RESULTS 28 projects to develop more socially acceptable cigarettes were identified from Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, British American Tobacco, and Lorillard tobacco companies. Con...

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control mandates the creation of smoke-free environments to protect non-smokers from second-hand smoke and reduce demand for tobacco. We aimed to examine the extent and nature of smoke-free campus policies at tertiary education institutions throughout New Zealand, and examine the policy development process. Stage one comprised an audit and content analysis of...

BACKGROUND The evaluation of infant meconium as a cumulative matrix of prenatal toxicant exposure requires comparison to established biomarkers of prenatal exposure. METHODS We calculated the frequency of detection and concentration of tobacco smoke metabolites measured in meconium (nicotine, cotinine, and trans-3'-hydroxycotinine concentrations) and three serial serum cotinine concentrations...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine a relationship between passive tobacco smoke exposure (secondhand and third hand tobacco smoke exposure) and dental caries in Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) ages 0-17 years. METHOD This study used data from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health involving 17,901 CSHCN. Telephone survey data were used to determine recen...

Background: Asthma is a chronic multifactorial disease with high prevalence. Among asthma risk factors, the effect of tobacco smoke exposure on bronchial asthma is still debated. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the association between environmental and direct tobacco smoke (cigarette and hookah) exposure and incidence and control of bronchial asthma. Materials & Methods: This descri...

For more than 20 years the tobacco industry has considered secondhand smoke to be a threat to its viability. In this article, we describe why secondhand smoke is important to tobacco control and how the tobacco industry's "Latin Project" sought to prevent the creation of smoke-free workplaces and public places in Central and South America. Eliminating secondhand smoke exposure not only reduces ...