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Occupational and Environmental Lung DiseasePassive Smoking Exposure: A Risk Factor for Chronic Bronchitis and Asthma in Adults?
Section snippets
Subjects
Within the European Community Respiratory Health Survey, a population-based, cross-sectional survey including 55 centers in 23 countries,23 a representative sample of 4,500 subjects in Hamburg, Germany, and 4,990 subjects in Erfurt, Germany, who were 20 to 44 years of age was obtained from the offices of the population census. In stage I of the study, a one-page screening questionnaire was mailed to all subjects (response rate, 76.8%). All eligible subjects in Hamburg (n = 4,090) and a random
Results
The study population in its relationship to passive smoking exposure is described in Table 1. Most participants reporting involuntary tobacco smoke exposure were exposed at home and at the workplace (62.9%), with a mean (± SD) duration of 5 ± 4 h per day. Subjects reporting passive smoke exposure were less likely to have a higher educational level and to live in Erfurt. Furthermore, they were more likely to be exposed to gases and/or mine dusts at the workplace. Additionally, subjects with
Discussion
In this study, involuntary tobacco smoke exposure, especially in the workplace, was associated with the prevalence of respiratory symptoms in young adults even after adjustment for occupational exposure. The risk estimates increased significantly with the increasing duration of daily exposure to second-hand smoke.
Our study has several strengths. Since it is a population-based survey, it reflects the prevalence of respiratory symptoms as well as the exposure to ETS exposure in the general
Acknowledgment
The authors thank C. Ramin, G. Schmudde, U. Willenbrock, S. Pirstat, A. Schneider, G. Wo¨lke, and E. Beck for their help with the manuscript.
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2015, KontaktCitation Excerpt :But another study by Chaudhuri et al. [105], did not record any significant difference. Passive smoking in the workplace or at home (in particular above 8 h per day) is associated with an increase of respiratory symptoms (wheezing) in young adults, leading to the onset of bronchial asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [106]. According to Broekeman et al. [107], an increased sputum correlated with a significantly higher number of goblet cells, presents mucus-positive epithelium, thicker thickness of the epithelium in smoking of asthmatics.
This article is part of the MD thesis of Kerstin Bu¨sching.
This study has been supported by a grant from the Bundesministerium fu¨r Forschung und Technologie.