142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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310195
Second hand smoke exposure and prevalence of asthma in the US population

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Sunday, November 16, 2014

Stacey L. Tannenbaum, PhD, RD, LD/N , Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
Qingyun Liu, MSc , Department of Psychology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami
Tulay Koru-Sengul, MHS, PhD , Department of Public Health Sciences, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
Background:

Approximately 25 million people (8.2% of the US population) have asthma, and this rate is climbing. We compared individuals who self-reported never smoking by asthma status to better understand a possible association of second-hand smoke (SHS) exposure with this respiratory illness.

Methods:

Data were obtained from the 1999-2012 NHANES, a nationally representative sample of the US population. Inclusion criteria were participants 20+ years who reported never smoking. We compared participants with self-reported asthma by sociodemographic characteristics, self-reported SHS exposure, and measured cotinine, NNAL, cadmium, and FEV1/FVC ratio. Chi- squared test (categorical variables) and regression models (continuous variables) were performed. Sampling weights were used to account for the complex survey design.

Results:

The prevalence of asthma in never-smokers is 12.1% (n=19,115). Females (63.0%) had significantly more asthma than males (p=0.0005). The burden of asthma was highest in non-Hispanic Whites and non-Hispanic Blacks (p<0.001). More married individuals were asthma-free (63.9%) compared with never married and divorced (p<0.0001). Asthma-free participants were significantly older than those with asthma (45.6 and 43.1 years; p<0.0001). Self-reported SHS exposure was not significantly different between asthma groups (p=0.6073). Cotinine and NNAL were not different between groups (p=0.3639 and p=0.7382) but compared to those with asthma those without had higher cadmium levels (0.336 vs. 0.310; p<0.0001) and higher FEV1/FVC ratio (80.0 vs. 77.8; p<0.0001).

Conclusion:

For the never smoking population, variations are seen in participants with and without asthma by sociodemographics and smoking-related biomarkers but not by self-reported SHS exposure. Understanding these disparities can help to inform healthcare prevention policies.

Learning Areas:

Epidemiology
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Describe the demographic characteristics of never smokers with asthma. Discuss the relationship of second hand smoke exposure and asthma status. Compare the differences in biomarkers for individuals with and without self-reported asthma.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been working on this federally funded grant about secondhand smoke and flight attendants for the past year. I have also worked on other cancer-related grants for the past 2 years as a Research Scientist. This position allows me to develop a study, research it, write it, and publish papers on these related topics. I am interested in tobacco and its relationship with chronic diseases.
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.