No adults in study spontaneously identified heart risks related to secondhand smoke exposure
MONDAY, Aug. 29, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Low-income adults with cardiovascular disease have considerable gaps in knowledge relating to secondhand smoke (SHS), according to a study published online Aug. 25 in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Preventing Chronic Disease.
Cati G. Brown-Johnson, Ph.D., from Stanford University in California, and colleagues examined the understandings of the harms of SHS exposure among low-income hospitalized adults with cardiovascular disease. Semistructured interviews were administered to 15 nonsmokers reporting daily SHS exposure and 15 light or nondaily cigarette smokers.
The researchers found that none of the participants spontaneously identified heart risks related to exposure to SHS. Verbal requests to not smoke and physically avoiding smoke were reported as strategies to avoid SHS; politeness was prioritized over urgency for both smokers and nonsmokers. Most of the participants reported that a blood test to quantify exposure to SHS would be useful. They also supported health education, assertiveness communication training, and protective policies.
“The study findings indicate SHS knowledge gaps in a low-income sample of cardiovascular disease patients,” the authors write. “Although most participants in our study identified SHS exposure as a nuisance and harmful to health, not one participant spontaneously listed heart disease as an SHS risk.”
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