Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2009, 6(2), 433-444; doi:10.3390/ijerph6020433
Article

Predictors of Childhood Exposure to Parental Secondhand Smoke in the House and Family Car

Vassiliki Mantziou 1 email, Constantine I. Vardavas 2,* email, Eleni Kletsiou 1 email and Kostas N. Priftis 3 email
1 National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Department of Nursing, Athens, Greece 2 Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Greece 3 Department of Allergy and Pneumonology, Children’s Hospital of Pentelis, Athens, Greece
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 31 December 2008 / Accepted: 24 January 2009 / Published: 2 February 2009
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smoking and Tobacco Control)
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Abstract: Childhood exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) is a serious threat to public health and can be influenced by parental lifestyle habits and beliefs. Taking the above into account we aimed at locating predictors of parental induced exposure to SHS in the house and family car among 614 children who visited the emergency department of two large pediatric hospitals in Athens, Greece. The multivariate analysis revealed that the factors found to mediate household exposure to paternal SHS were the number of cigarettes smoked per day (O.R 1.13, p<0.001) while, having a non-smoking spouse had a protective effect (O.R 0.44, p=0.026). Maternally induced household SHS exposure was related to cigarette consumption. For both parents, child exposure to SHS in the family car was related to higher numbers of cigarettes smoked (p<0.001), and for fathers was also more often found in larger families. Additionally, lower educated fathers were more likely to have a spouse that exposes their children to SHS inside the family car (O.R 1.38 95%C.I: 1.04-1.84, p=0.026). Conclusively, efforts must be made to educate parents on the effects of home and household car exposure to SHS, where smoke free legislation may be difficult to apply.
Keywords: Passive smoking; environmental exposure; preschool children; smoking; determinants; parents; Greece; home exposure; behavior

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MDPI and ACS Style

Mantziou, V.; Vardavas, C.I.; Kletsiou, E.; Priftis, K.N. Predictors of Childhood Exposure to Parental Secondhand Smoke in the House and Family Car. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2009, 6, 433-444.

AMA Style

Mantziou V, Vardavas CI, Kletsiou E, Priftis KN. Predictors of Childhood Exposure to Parental Secondhand Smoke in the House and Family Car. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2009; 6(2):433-444.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mantziou, Vassiliki; Vardavas, Constantine I.; Kletsiou, Eleni; Priftis, Kostas N. 2009. "Predictors of Childhood Exposure to Parental Secondhand Smoke in the House and Family Car." Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 6, no. 2: 433-444.

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