Secondhand Smoke Exposure in Hospitality Venues in Europe
Open Access
- 1 November 2008
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Environmental Health Perspectives in Environmental Health Perspectives
- Vol. 116 (11), 1469-1472
- https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.11374
Abstract
Background Although in the last few years some European countries have implemented smoking bans in hospitality venues, the levels of secondhand smoke (SHS) in this occupational sector could still be extremely high in most countries. Objective The aim of this study was to assess exposure to SHS in hospitality venues in 10 European cities. Methods We included 167 hospitality venues (58 discotheques and pubs, 82 restaurants and cafeterias, and 27 fast-food restaurants) in this cross-sectional study. We carried out fieldwork in 10 European cities: Vienna (Austria), Paris (France), Athens (Greece), Florence and Belluno (Italy), Galway (Ireland), Barcelona (Spain), Warsaw and Lublin (Poland), and Bratislava (Slovak Republic). We measured vapor-phase nicotine as an SHS marker. Results We analyzed 504 samples and found nicotine in most samples (97.4%). We found the highest median concentrations in discos/pubs [32.99 μg/m3; interquartile range (IQR), 8.06–66.84 μg/m3] and lower median concentrations in restaurants/cafeterias (2.09 μg/m3; IQR, 0.49–6.73 μg/m3) and fast-food restaurants (0.31 μg/m3; IQR, 0.11–1.30 μg/m3) (p < 0.05). We found differences of exposure between countries that may be related to their smoking regulations. Where we sampled smoking and nonsmoking areas, nicotine concentrations were significantly lower in nonsmoking areas. Conclusions Hospitality venues from European cities without smoking regulations have very high levels of SHS exposure. Monitoring of SHS on a regular basis as well as a total smoking ban in hospitality sector would be needed.Keywords
This publication has 16 references indexed in Scilit:
- Second-hand tobacco smoke in public places in urban and rural ChinaTobacco Control, 2007
- Effects of a Smoke-Free Law on Hair Nicotine and Respiratory Symptoms of Restaurant and Bar WorkersJournal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2006
- The Tobacco Control Scale: a new scale to measure country activityTobacco Control, 2006
- Legislation on smoking in enclosed public places in Scotland: how will we evaluate the impact?Journal of Public Health, 2006
- Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) Exposure in Florence Hospitality Venues Before and After the Smoking Ban in ItalyJournal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2005
- Secondhand smoke exposure and risk following the Irish smoking ban: an assessment of salivary cotinine concentrations in hotel workers and air nicotine levels in barsTobacco Control, 2005
- Legislation for smoke-free workplaces and health of bar workers in Ireland: before and after studyBMJ, 2005
- Environmental tobacco smoke exposure in public places of European citiesTobacco Control, 2005
- Ireland's workplaces, going smoke freeBMJ, 2004
- An Enforceable Indoor Air Quality Standard for Environmental Tobacco Smoke in the Workplace1Risk Analysis, 1993