Secondhand Smoke: A Literature Review

This article is titled “Perceptions of harm from secondhand smoke exposure among U.S. adults, 2009-2010”, and it was written by Judy Kruger, Roshni Patel, Michelle Kegler, Steven D. Babb, and Brian A. King. The authors firstly explained that secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure causes heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer in nonsmoking adults and suden infant death syndrome, middle ear infections, and severe asthma in children. As well, this has caused more than 41,000 deaths among US nonsmokers. Therefore, it has been concluded that there is no risk free level of exposure other than eliminating smoking in indoor spaces. Even though many policies have been passed in order to counter this, approximately 58 million Americans, including 15 million children, continue to be exposed. Researches have revealed that each time there is more people supporting smoke-free policies. This may be contributed to the publicity, education, debate, and experience that accompany the adoption of smoke-free law. The principal factor in the awareness of the adverse factors of SHS exposure on health. Researched suggest that the most knowledge people have, the greatest efforts they would do to minimize this. First of all, the authors went through several methods in order to come out with the results. Firstly, the sample data came from the …show more content…
Nationally, 64.5% of adults reported SHS exposure as very harmful, 31.5% as somewhat harmful, and 4.0% as not harmful at all. This perception was higher in females, respondents with unspecified sexual orientation, those living with children aged less than 17, and those from West. By state, the perceptions were 73.5% as very harmful in Utah, 39.5% as somewhat harmful in Kentucky, and 2.4% as not harmful at all in Delaware. Perceptions according to the tobacco use status were measured as well. In this case, people perceiving the SHS as very harmful are the ones who actually do not use