You are here

  • Home
  • Archive
  • Volume 8, Issue 1
  • Exposure to tobacco secondhand smoke and its associated factors among non-smoking adults in smoking-restricted and non-restricted areas: findings from a nationwide study in Malaysia

Article Text

Article menu

Download PDFPDF

XML
Smoking and tobacco
Research
Exposure to tobacco secondhand smoke and its associated factors among non-smoking adults in smoking-restricted and non-restricted areas: findings from a nationwide study in Malaysia
  1. Kuang Hock Lim1,
  2. Chien Huey Teh1,
  3. Mohamad Haniki Nik Mohamed2,
  4. Sayan Pan3,
  5. Miaw Yn Ling3,
  6. Muhammad Fadhli Mohd Yusoff3,
  7. Noraryana Hassan4,
  8. Nizam Baharom5,
  9. Netty Darwina Dawam4,
  10. Norliana Ismail4,
  11. Sumarni Mohd Ghazali1,
  12. Kee Chee Cheong1,
  13. Kar Hon Chong6,
  14. Hui Li Lim6
  1. 1 Institute for Medical Research, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  2. 2 Kuliyyah of Pharmacy, International Islamic University Malaysia, Pahang, Malaysia
  3. 3 Institute of Public Health, Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
  4. 4 Disease Control Division, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Putrajaya, Malaysia
  5. 5 Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  6. 6 Hospital Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, Temerloh, Pahang, Malaysia
  1. Correspondence to Mr Kuang Hock Lim; keelimkota{at}yahoo.com

Abstract

Objectives Secondhand smoke (SHS) has been associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Therefore, the aims of the paper are to assess SHS exposure among non-smoking adults in Malaysia attending various smoking-restricted and non-restricted public areas according to the Control of Tobacco Product Regulations (CTPR) as well as its relationship with various sociodemographic variables.

Design Data were extracted from a cross-sectional study, the Global Adults Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2011 which involved 3269 non-smokers in Malaysia. Data was obtained through face-to-face interviews using a validated pre-tested questionnaire. Factors associated with exposure to SHS were identified via multivariable analysis.

Results The study revealed that almost two-thirds of respondents were exposed to SHS in at least one public area in the past 1 month, with a significantly higher exposure among males (70.6%), those with higher educational attainment (81.4%) and higher income (quintile 1%–73.9%). Besides, the exposure to SHS was almost four times higher in non-restricted areas compared with restricted areas under the CTPR (81.9% vs 22.9). Multivariable analysis revealed that males and younger adults at non-restricted areas were more likely to be exposed to SHS while no significant associated factors of SHS exposure was observed in restricted areas.

Conclusions The study revealed the prevalence of SHS exposure was higher among Malaysian adults. Although smoke-free laws offer protection to non-smokers from exposure to SHS, enforcement activities in restricted areas should be enhanced to ensure strict public abidance. In addition, legislation of restricted areas should also be extended to greatly reduce the SHS exposure among non-smokers in Malaysia.

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-017203

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Contributors LKH, TCH and MHNM, LHL wrote the manuscript, SMG and KCC carried out statistical analysis, SP, MFY, LMY designed the study, NH, NZ, NDD and NI were responsible for data collection and coordination of the study. CKH managed and cleaned the data. LKH, TCH and LHL were involved in interpretation and implications of the analysis. All authors contributed to developing the manuscript, and read and approved the final version.

    • Funding The project was funded by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Obtained.

    • Ethics approval Malaysia Research Ethical Committee, Ministry of Health, Malaysia.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement No additional data are available.