Exposure to second hand smoke and its correlates in Northern State of India

Second-hand smoke (SHS) has enormous adverse health impacts with grave health implications for the next generation. Section 4 of Indian legislation, Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, prohibits smoking at public places, thus protecting people from SHS.

The objective of present study was to assess the exposure to SHS at home and working areas in Punjab, India.

The present cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2015 to March 2016. A three-stage sampling technique was used for collecting data from three randomly selected districts representing three major regions of Punjab, India. A sample size of 510 individuals was divided equally into an urban and rural area with proportionate sampling on the basis of subsets of age groups and gender. The questionnaire based on tobacco questions for the survey, a subset of key questions from global adult tobacco survey was used.

At home, the odds of exposure to SHS exposure was higher (odds ratio [OR] = 2.2, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.6-7.3) in urban area, females, low educational status, and nongovernment employee as compared to their counterparts. At workplace, (OR = 3.9 and 95% CI = 1.11-14.3) SHS exposure was higher in rural area, among males, primary and middle education and nongovernment or self-employed occupation.

SHS exposure was low in Punjab, India especially in females as compared to other states of the country. The socio-economic disadvantaged groups and people with low education were more likely to experience exposure to SHS at workplace, which should be targeted to reduce tobacco consumption.