BMJ  2005;330:265-266 (5 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7486.265

Editorial

More evidence on the risks of passive smoking

But existing evidence is enough to implicate it as a health hazard

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Recently the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reviewed more than 50 studies of passive smoking and lung cancer.¹ The pooled excess risk of lung cancer from exposure to spousal smoking was about 20% for women and 30% for men. So what do the two articles featured in this issue add to the evidence on the health hazards of passive smoking, which is already quite extensive (pp 277, 287)?^{2 3}

Compared with the large number of cases of lung cancer (about 6700) available for the IARC meta-analysis, the report from the EPIC study makes a relatively modest contribution (about 100 newly diagnosed cases).² The adjusted hazard ratio for lung cancer among people exposed to passive smoking was 1.70 (95% confidence interval 1.11 to 2.60). Some methodological limitations have been noted in previous studies of passive smoking, including inadequate control of confounding and misclassification of exposure—for example, . . . [Full text of this article]

Department of Society, Human Development and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA (ckawach@aol.com)

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Panagiotakos, D. B, Pitsavos, C., Stefanadis, C. (2007). Chronic exposure to second hand smoke and 30-day prognosis of patients hospitalised with acute coronary syndromes: the Greek study of acute coronary syndromes. Heart 93: 309-312 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Ghouri, N., Atcha, M., Sheikh, A. (2006). Influence of Islam on smoking among Muslims. BMJ 332: 291-294 [Full text]  
• Allwright, S., Paul, G., Greiner, B., Mullally, B. J, Pursell, L., Kelly, A., Bonner, B., D'Eath, M., McConnell, B., McLaughlin, J. P, O'Donovan, D., O'Kane, E., Perry, I. J (2005). Legislation for smoke-free workplaces and health of bar workers in Ireland: before and after study. BMJ 331: 1117- [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Katz, J E (2005). Individual rights advocacy in tobacco control policies: an assessment and recommendation. Tobacco Control 14: ii31-ii37 [Abstract] [Full text]  

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