Association of environmental tobacco smoke exposure with socioeconomic status in a population of 7725 New Zealanders

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure is inversely associated with socioeconomic status. DESIGN Survey. SETTING General community, New Zealand. PARTICIPANTS 7725 non-smoking adults (volunteer sample of a multi-industry workforce, n = 5564; and a random sample of urban electoral rolls, n = 2161), including 5408 males; mean age 45 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES ETS exposure was assessed as self-reported number of hours per week spent near someone who is smoking, and as prevalence of regular exposure to some ETS. Socioeconomic status was assessed as educational level, occupational status, and median neighbourhood household income. RESULTS Both measures of ETS exposure were steeply and inversely associated with all three indicators of socioeconomic status (all pCONCLUSIONS In this study population, ETS exposure was inversely associated with socioeconomic status. Greater ETS exposure might therefore contribute to the higher risks of disease and death among low socioeconomic groups. These results provide a further rationale for targeting tobacco control measures to people in low socioeconomic groups.