The Effect of Public Health Measures during the COVID-19 Pandemic on Smoking Dependence & Passive Smoking

Background: According to increasing concern about the COVID-19 pandemic and the risk of smoking this study was conducted to find the effect of health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic on smoking dependence & passive smoking. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in September 2020, by using a valid and reliable questionnaire, the data were analyzed by using SPSS, version 20 software. Results: The study showed 16.9% of participants increased their nicotine use and 12.4% decreased their nicotine use. Despite no significant change in smoking dependence, we found that smokers who used to smoke more than 30 cigarettes per day before the quarantine increased by two folds. In addition, we found that smokers who awaken at night sometimes to have cigarettes before quarantine had increased markedly by 50% during quarantine. Furthermore, smokers who had an extreme urge to smoke over the week before the quarantine have elevated markedly during the quarantine from 31 smokers to 60. Also, over 35.2 % of surveyed individuals experienced a rise in smoking desire during the quarantine. Regarding passive smoking, the surveyed individuals reported a generally slight decline in exposure to secondhand smoking. However, the number of exposed individuals to smoking for more than 8 hours increased by 27%. Conclusion: During the lockdown, individuals smoked marginally more cigarettes compared to the periods before the lockdown with no significant change in smoking dependence. There was a slight decline in exposure to secondhand smoking. However, the number of exposed individuals to household smoking for more than 8 hours had been increased.

Influence of Maternal Active and Secondhand Smoking during Pregnancy on Childhood Obesity at 3 Years of Age: A Nested Case–Control Study from the Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS)

Maternal smoking during pregnancy is a risk factor for childhood obesity; however, the combined effect of secondhand smoking during pregnancy on children in the early years is unclear. We examined the effects of maternal active and secondhand smoking during pregnancy on childhood obesity in a large population-based cohort. A nested case–control study originating from the Japan Environment and Children’s Study was performed. The maternal smoking status was collected via self-administered questionnaires during mid/late pregnancy. Obesity in children was determined based on BMI measured at 3 years of age. In total, 4875 cases and 19,491 controls were included in the analyses. Conditional logistic regression models with a significance level of 5% (two-tailed test) were used to test the association. The proportion of mothers who continued smoking and who were exposed to secondhand smoking daily during pregnancy were 3.9% and 13.0% in cases and 2.9% and 10.8% in controls, respectively. Continuous maternal smoking was associated with increased odds of obesity compared to those who never smoked or quit smoking before the pregnancy (adjusted odds ratio, 1.39; 95% confidence interval, 1.01–1.92). The odds increased further when combined with secondhand smoking. The promotion of non-smoking among family members, in public and workplace could benefit pregnant women and offspring.

Secondhand Smoke Exposure of Expectant Mothers in China: Factoring in the Role of Culture in Data Collection

Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide. Tobacco smoking, including secondhand smoking, causes cancer and is responsible for over 22% of global cancer deaths. The adverse impacts of secondhand smoke are more pronounced for expectant mothers, and can deteriorate both mothers’ and infants’ health and well-being. Research suggests that secondhand smoke significantly increases expectant mothers’ risk of miscarriage, cancer, and other chronic disease conditions, and exposes their unborn babies to an increased likelihood of having life-long poor health. In China, a pregnant woman’s family members, such as her husband, parents, or in-laws, are the most likely people to be smoking around her. Due to traditional Chinese cultural practices, even though some expectant mothers understand the harm of secondhand smoke, they may be reluctant to report their family members’ smoking behaviors. Resulting in severe underreporting, this compromises health experts’ ability to understand the severity of the issue. This paper proposes a novel approach to measure secondhand smoke exposure of pregnant women in the Chinese context. The proposed system could act as a stepping stone that inspires creative methods to help researchers more accurately measure secondhand smoking rates of expectant mothers in China. This, in turn, could help health experts better establish cancer control measures for expectant mothers and decrease their cancer risk.

The effects of tubal sterilization on menopausal age in a cohort of postmenopausal women

To evaluate whether tubal sterilization (TS) has an adverse effect on menopausal age in a cohort of postmenopausal women. The medical records on TS were gathered from 1,228 postmenopausal women in menopause clinic at a tertiary hospital. The age at menarche, the parity, smoking and secondhand smoking status and mother’s age at menopause did not show any significant difference between the groups. Likewise, marital status, educational and yearly income levels were comparable (P > 0.01). Although the mean BMI (P = 0.06) and the rate of oral contraceptive use (P = 0.09) were tended to be higher in non-TS women than in TS group, the difference did not reach statistical significance. The ever use of intrauterine device rate was significantly lower in TS group than in non-TS group (P <0.001). The TS women, in comparison with the non-TS women had undergone earlier natural menopause (P <0.001). The age at menopause had an inverse correlation with TS, and positive correlation with mother’s age at menopause in univariate analyses. However, there was marginally significant correlation between secondhand smoking and age at menopause. Linear stepwise regression analyses revealed that TS and mother’s age at menopause were independent predictors of age at menopause (P < 0.05). We found an earlier age at menopause in women with TS in this study. In this regard, this is the first report about the age at menopause in women with TS, as far as we know.