A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization
Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
| Home | Search | About ASH | Why Join | Comment | Email page |
|
Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
|
New Study: Secondhand Smoke Increases Risk of Stroke Among Wives of Smokers [03/24-4]
Excerpts from: Second-Hand Smoke Increases Risk of Stroke Among Wives of Smokers
Reuters Health [03/24/05]
Smoking by husbands is associated with an increased prevalence of stroke among
their nonsmoking wives, according to a new study.
"Growing evidence suggests that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke may have deleterious cardiovascular effects," Dr. Xiao Ou Shu, of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, and colleagues write in the February 1st issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology. "Few studies have investigated environmental tobacco smoke exposure in relation to stroke."
The researchers assessed the association between husbands' smoking status and the prevalence of stroke among Chinese women nonsmokers in Shanghai. They note that two thirds of men, but few women, in the region smoke. The team examined baseline survey data (1997 to 2000) from the Shanghai Women's Health Study, a population-based cohort study. Included in the analysis were 60,377 women between the ages of 40 and 70 years.
In-person interviews were conducted in order to obtain data on husbands' smoking status and history of physician-diagnosed stroke. Questionnaires were also used to determine the women's smoking history. Only 2113 women in the cohort had ever smoked, according to the authors. These women were excluded from the analysis.
Of the 60,377 were included in the study, 32,287 (53.5%) were living with a husband who was a current smoker. A total of 5108 (8.5%) were living with a husband who was a former smoker. Overall, 526 prevalent cases of stroke were reported.
Logistic regression analysis showed that women living with a current smoker had a significantly higher risk of stroke (odds ratio [OR] = 1.47) compared to women married to a never smoker. The risk was not significantly higher among women married to a former smoker.
"The odds of stroke increased with increasing number of cigarettes the husbands smoked per day," Dr. Shu and colleagues write. "Compared with women whose husbands had never smoked, those whose husbands were current smokers of 1 to 9, 10 to 19, and 20 or more cigarettes per day had odds ratios of stroke of 1.28, 1.32, and 1.62, respectively (p for trend = 0.0002), after we controlled for potential confounding factors."
The odds of stroke also increased with increasing duration of husbands' smoking, according to the team.
Click here to view this study
| Home Web Page | Search This Site | Learn About ASH | Why Join ASH | Comment on This | Email This Page |