We investigated the association between introduction of smoke-free legislation in the UK (March 2006 for Scotland, April 2007 for Wales and Northern Ireland, and July 2007 for England) and the incidence of respiratory diseases among children. We extracted monthly counts of new diagnoses of wheezing/asthma and RTIs among children aged 0-12 years from all general practices in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink during 1997-2012. Interrupted time series analyses were performed using generalised additive mixed models, adjusting for underlying incidence trends, population size changes, seasonal factors, and pandemic influenza, as appropriate. 366,642 new wheezing/asthma diagnoses and 4,324,789 RTIs were observed over 9,536,003 patient-years. There was no statistically significant change in the incidence of wheezing/asthma after introduction of smoke-free legislation in England (incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.94, 95% CI 0.81-1.09) or any other UK country (Scotland: IRR 0.99, 95% CI 0.83-1.19; Wales: IRR 1.09, 95% CI 0.89-1.35; Northern Ireland: IRR 0.96, 95% CI 0.76-1.22). Similarly no statistically significant changes in RTI incidence were demonstrated (England: IRR 0.95, 95% CI 0.86-1.06; Scotland: IRR 0.96, 95% CI 0.83-1.11; Wales: IRR 0.97, 95% CI 0.86-1.09; Northern Ireland: IRR 0.90, 95% CI 0.79-1.03). There were no demonstrable reductions in the incidence of paediatric wheezing/asthma or RTIs following introduction of smoke-free legislation in the UK.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep15246 | DOI Listing |
N Z Med J
January 2025
Professor, Department of Public Health, University of Otago Wellington, Wellington.
Aim: In February 2024, the Aotearoa New Zealand Government repealed legislation to mandate very low nicotine cigarettes (VLNCs), greatly reduce the number of tobacco retailers and disallow sale of tobacco products to people born after 2008 (smokefree generation). We investigated acceptability and likely impacts of these measures among people who smoke or who recently (≤2 years) quit smoking.
Method: We analysed data from 1,230 participants from Wave 3 (conducted in late 2020 and early 2021) and 615 participants from Wave 3.
Tob Use Insights
January 2025
College of Medicine, Hebron University, Hebron, Palestine.
Background: Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure remains a critical public health concern, especially for adolescents, who are more susceptible to its harmful effects and may initiate smoking as a result. SHS, comprising both mainstream and sidestream smoke, contains over 7000 chemicals, many of which are carcinogenic. Adolescents exposed to SHS are more likely to experiment with smoking due to environmental influences, peer pressure, and familial smoking behavior.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealth Promot Chronic Dis Prev Can
January 2025
School of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Introduction: The aim of this study was to assess the potential impacts of the introduction of a smoke-free generation (SFG) policy in Canada with a perpetual ban on cigarette sales to anyone born after 2009 instigated on 1 January 2025.
Methods: An existing Canadian model relating to smoking cessation was adapted and augmented to assess the impact of an SFG policy on quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), life expectancy, health care costs, smoking-related taxes, and Canadian tobacco industry gross domestic product (GDP). The cumulative impact of the policy for the entire Canadian population was assessed for time horizons up to 90 years with an annual discount rate of 1.
Front Public Health
January 2025
NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States.
In this policy brief, we explore several potential drivers of heterogeneity in policy outcomes that can be examined in tobacco control policy evaluations, expanding the evidence base to contribute to continued, equitable progress in reducing tobacco-related health outcomes. We discuss these factors in the context of a hypothetical evaluation of the impact of smoke-free laws on current smoking and quit attempts in the Tobacco Nation. Despite a similar policy environment within the Tobacco Nation, there is variation in the strength of smoke-free law coverage across states.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Public Health
November 2024
Department of Medical Statistics, Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Research & Development Center, 2-7 Daigaku-Machi, Takatsuki City, Osaka, 569-8686, Japan.
Background: In April 2020, the revised Health Promotion Act and Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance to prevent second-hand smoke (SHS) exposure was fully enforced. The government has provided an exemption for small-scale, existing establishments by allowing them 'unregulated' status, and it is unclear to what extent indoor smoking bans have been applied in these small bars and restaurants. In this study, we report on indoor smoking status before/after the enforcement of the current legislation both regulated and unregulated restaurants and bars.
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