Skip to main content
PMC home page
Environmental Health Perspectives logoLink to Environmental Health Perspectives
. 1999 Dec;107(Suppl 6):847–851. doi: 10.1289/ehp.99107s6847

Workplace exposure to passive smoking and risk of cardiovascular disease: summary of epidemiologic studies.

I Kawachi 1, G A Colditz 1
PMCID: PMC1566194  PMID: 10592141

Abstract

We reviewed the published epidemiologic studies addressing the relationship between workplace exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and cardiovascular disease risk in three case-control studies and three cohort studies. Although the point estimates of risk for cardiovascular disease exceeded 1.0 in five of six studies, none of the relative risks was statistically significant because of the small number of cardiovascular end points occurring in individual studies. In common with most epidemiologic investigations of the health risks of ETS, none of the workplace studies included independent biochemical validation of ETS exposure. In contrast to the evidence on increased cardiovascular disease risk from exposure to spousal ETS, studies of ETS exposure in the workplace are still sparse and inconclusive. Conversely, there is no biologically plausible reason to believe that the hazards of ETS exposure that have been demonstrated in the home should not also apply to the workplace.

Full text

PDF
847

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Cummings K. M., Markello S. J., Mahoney M., Bhargava A. K., McElroy P. D., Marshall J. R. Measurement of current exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. Arch Environ Health. 1990 Mar-Apr;45(2):74–79. doi: 10.1080/00039896.1990.9935929. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Davis J. W., Shelton L., Watanabe I. S., Arnold J. Passive smoking affects endothelium and platelets. Arch Intern Med. 1989 Feb;149(2):386–389. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Dobson A. J., Alexander H. M., Heller R. F., Lloyd D. M. Passive smoking and the risk of heart attack or coronary death. Med J Aust. 1991 Jun 17;154(12):793–797. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1991.tb121366.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Emmons K. M., Abrams D. B., Marshall R., Marcus B. H., Kane M., Novotny T. E., Etzel R. A. An evaluation of the relationship between self-report and biochemical measures of environmental tobacco smoke exposure. Prev Med. 1994 Jan;23(1):35–39. doi: 10.1006/pmed.1994.1005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hammond S. K., Sorensen G., Youngstrom R., Ockene J. K. Occupational exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. JAMA. 1995 Sep 27;274(12):956–960. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. He Y., Lam T. H., Li L. S., Li L. S., Du R. Y., Jia G. L., Huang J. Y., Zheng J. S. Passive smoking at work as a risk factor for coronary heart disease in Chinese women who have never smoked. BMJ. 1994 Feb 5;308(6925):380–384. doi: 10.1136/bmj.308.6925.380. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Jarvis M. J. Dietary nicotine. ...unless subjects eat 90 kg tomatoes a day. BMJ. 1994 Jan 1;308(6920):62–62. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Jenkins R. A., Palausky A., Counts R. W., Bayne C. K., Dindal A. B., Guerin M. R. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in sixteen cities in the United States as determined by personal breathing zone air sampling. J Expo Anal Environ Epidemiol. 1996 Oct-Dec;6(4):473–502. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kawachi I., Colditz G. A. Invited commentary: confounding, measurement error, and publication bias in studies of passive smoking. Am J Epidemiol. 1996 Nov 15;144(10):909–915. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a008860. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Kawachi I., Colditz G. A., Speizer F. E., Manson J. E., Stampfer M. J., Willett W. C., Hennekens C. H. A prospective study of passive smoking and coronary heart disease. Circulation. 1997 May 20;95(10):2374–2379. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.95.10.2374. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Law M. R., Morris J. K., Wald N. J. Environmental tobacco smoke exposure and ischaemic heart disease: an evaluation of the evidence. BMJ. 1997 Oct 18;315(7114):973–980. doi: 10.1136/bmj.315.7114.973. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Matanoski G., Kanchanaraksa S., Lantry D., Chang Y. Characteristics of nonsmoking women in NHANES I and NHANES I epidemiologic follow-up study with exposure to spouses who smoke. Am J Epidemiol. 1995 Jul 15;142(2):149–157. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a117613. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Muscat J. E., Wynder E. L. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and the risk of heart attack. Int J Epidemiol. 1995 Aug;24(4):715–719. doi: 10.1093/ije/24.4.715. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Phillips K., Bentley M. C., Howard D. A., Alván G. Assessment of air quality in Stockholm by personal monitoring of nonsmokers for respirable suspended particles and environmental tobacco smoke. Scand J Work Environ Health. 1996;22 (Suppl 1):1–24. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Pron G. E., Burch J. D., Howe G. R., Miller A. B. The reliability of passive smoking histories reported in a case-control study of lung cancer. Am J Epidemiol. 1988 Feb;127(2):267–273. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a114802. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Repace J. L. Dietary nicotine. Won't mislead on passive smoking... BMJ. 1994 Jan 1;308(6920):61–62. doi: 10.1136/bmj.308.6920.61c. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Repace J. L., Lowrey A. H. Indoor air pollution, tobacco smoke, and public health. Science. 1980 May 2;208(4443):464–472. doi: 10.1126/science.7367873. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Steenland K., Sieber K., Etzel R. A., Pechacek T., Maurer K. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and risk factors for heart disease among never smokers in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Am J Epidemiol. 1998 May 15;147(10):932–939. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a009383. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Steenland K., Thun M., Lally C., Heath C., Jr Environmental tobacco smoke and coronary heart disease in the American Cancer Society CPS-II cohort. Circulation. 1996 Aug 15;94(4):622–628. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.94.4.622. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Svendsen K. H., Kuller L. H., Martin M. J., Ockene J. K. Effects of passive smoking in the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial. Am J Epidemiol. 1987 Nov;126(5):783–795. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a114715. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Thornton A., Lee P., Fry J. Differences between smokers, ex-smokers, passive smokers and non-smokers. J Clin Epidemiol. 1994 Oct;47(10):1143–1162. doi: 10.1016/0895-4356(94)90101-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Wells A. J. Heart disease from passive smoking in the workplace. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1998 Jan;31(1):1–9. doi: 10.1016/s0735-1097(97)00432-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Wells A. J. Passive smoking as a cause of heart disease. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1994 Aug;24(2):546–554. doi: 10.1016/0735-1097(94)90315-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Environmental Health Perspectives are provided here courtesy of National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

RESOURCES