Cigarette smoking among spouses: another risk factor for stroke in women.
OBJECTIVE
It is well known that passive exposure to cigarette smoking increases the risk of coronary events, but the effect on the risk of stroke is not well defined. We performed this study to determine the effect of cigarette smoking among spouses on the risk of developing stroke and ischemic stroke among a nationally representative sample of women.


METHODS
We examined the association between history of smoking among spouses with the incidence of stroke in a national cohort of 5379 women who participated in the First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Epidemiologic Follow-Up Study.


RESULTS
During a mean follow-up of 8.5 years, the risk was significantly increased for all strokes (relative risk, 5.7; 95% CI, 1.4 to 24) and ischemic stroke (relative risk, 4.8; 95% CI, 1.2 to 20) among cigarette-smoking women with a cigarette-smoking spouse compared with those with a nonsmoking spouse after adjusting for other cardiovascular risk factors.


CONCLUSIONS
The study provides new evidence linking spousal smoking to stroke.
Qureshi
Adnan I
AI
Zeenat Qureshi Stroke Research Center, Department of Neurology and Neurosciences, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07103, USA. aiqureshi@hotmail.com
Suri
M Fareed K
MF
Kirmani
Jawad F
JF
Divani
Afshin A
AA
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007511:Ischemia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012306:Risk; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D018454:Spouses; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology*; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*
D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution