| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS | REGISTER |
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
RESEARCH PAPER |
1 Department of Internal Medicine, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
2 Research Centre for Health Promotion, University of Bergen, Norway
Correspondence to:
Dr Tomas Eagan
Department of Internal Medicine, Haukeland University Hospital, Jonas Lies vei 65, 5021 Bergen, Norway; tomas.eagan{at}med.uib.no
Objective: To evaluate the effect of a total ban on smoking indoors in restaurants and other hospitality business premises in Norway, on respiratory symptoms among workers in the industry.
Methods: Phone interviews with 1525 employees in the hospitality business were conducted immediately before the enacting of the law. In a follow-up study five months later, 906 of the workers from the baseline sample participated. Questions were asked on demographic variables, passive smoking exposure, personal smoking, attitudes towards the law, and five respiratory symptoms. Change in symptom prevalence was analysed with McNemar’s test and with analysis of variance (ANOVA) for repeated measures.
Results: The prevalence of all five symptoms declined after the ban; for morning cough from 20.6% to 16.2% (p < 0.01); for daytime cough from 23.2% to 20.9%; for phlegm cough from 15.3% to 11.8% (p < 0.05); for dyspnoea from 19.2% to 13.0% (p < 0.01); and for wheezing from 9.0% to 7.8%. ANOVA showed that the largest decline in symptom prevalence was seen among workers who themselves gave up smoking, and subjects with a positive attitude towards the law before it took effect.
Conclusion: A significant decrease in respiratory symptoms among service industry workers was found five months after the enacting of a public smoking ban.
Keywords: hospitality industry; public smoking ban; respiratory symptoms.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  G. Cesaroni, F. Forastiere, N. Agabiti, P. Valente, P. Zuccaro, and C. A. Perucci Effect of the Italian Smoking Ban on Population Rates of Acute Coronary Events Circulation, March 4, 2008; 117(9): 1183 - 1188. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. T. Braverman, L. E. Aaro, and J. Hetland Changes in smoking among restaurant and bar employees following Norway's comprehensive smoking ban Health Promot. Int., March 1, 2008; 23(1): 5 - 15. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 P. C Akhtar, D. B Currie, C. E Currie, and S. J Haw Changes in child exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (CHETS) study after implementation of smoke-free legislation in Scotland: national cross sectional survey BMJ, September 15, 2007; 335(7619): 545 - 545. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 L. Zellers, M. A. Thomas, and M. Ashe Legal Risks to Employers Who Allow Smoking in the Workplace Am J Public Health, August 1, 2007; 97(8): 1376 - 1382. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 P. Goodman, M. Agnew, M. McCaffrey, G. Paul, and L. Clancy Effects of the Irish Smoking Ban on Respiratory Health of Bar Workers and Air Quality in Dublin Pubs Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., April 15, 2007; 175(8): 840 - 845. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. D. Eisner Banning smoking in public places: time to clear the air. JAMA, October 11, 2006; 296(14): 1778 - 1779. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
H. Marcovitch What's new this month in BMJ Journals BMJ, July 22, 2006; 333(7560): 191 - 191. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS | REGISTER |
