Association of passive smoking with respiratory symptoms and clinical correlates, among married women, in a rural community in Islamabad.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the association of passive smoking with respiratory symptoms and clinical correlates in married women in a rural area of Pakistan.


METHODS
A Cross-sectional study was carried out on married women of Nurpur Shahan (rural Islamabad) by means of an Interviewer administered questionnaire. Systematic sampling of households was done. A total of 296 women were surveyed. The study period extended from January to July 2009. All data was entered and analyzed using SPSS v 10.0.


RESULTS
The two major respiratory symptoms that were found to be associated with passive smoking were sinusitis [adjusted O.R(95% CI) 2.2 (1.3 - 3.5), p = 0.001] and cough [adjusted O.R (95% CI) 2.4 (1.2 - 4.8), p = 0.017]. Wood used as fuel for cooking purposes also contributed to one of the symptoms such as headache (p = 0.007). The pulse rate (79 +/- 11 beats/min) of the passive smoking women was statistically significantly higher than the pulse rate (76 +/- 9 beats/min) of the non-passive smoking women (p = 0.012).


CONCLUSIONS
Passive smoking was found to be associated with respiratory symptoms among married women in this study. Higher pulse rate was associated with passive smoking.
Hammad
Mohammad
M
Community Health Sciences, Shifa College of Medicine, Islamabad.
Atta
Komal
K
Manzoor
Mariam
M
Tariq
Maryam
M
Saeed
Zainub
Z
Masood
Zara
Z
Saleem
Khadiqa
K
Raza
Mariam
M
Malik
Ghulam Mustafa
GM
Alam
Ali Yawar
AY
D000328:Adult; D003371:Cough / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012852:Sinusitis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D018454:Spouses; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution