1. Smoke-Free Multi-unit Housing Policies Show Promise in Reducing Secondhand Smoke Exposure Among Racially and Ethnically Diverse, Low-Income Seniors.
- Author
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Hollar, T., Cook, Nicole, Quinn, David, Phillips, Teina, and DeLucca, Michael
- Subjects
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PASSIVE smoking , *CHI-squared test , *CONFIDENCE intervals , *ETHNIC groups , *HOUSING , *INCOME , *HEALTH policy , *PROBABILITY theory , *RESEARCH funding , *SMOKING , *T-test (Statistics) , *COMORBIDITY , *RULES , *JUDGMENT sampling , *MULTIPLE regression analysis , *PRE-tests & post-tests , *CROSS-sectional method , *DATA analysis software , *DESCRIPTIVE statistics , *ODDS ratio , *MANN Whitney U Test , *OLD age , *PREVENTION - Abstract
Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure is a public health issue for residents of multi-unit housing (MUH) properties. We evaluated the impact of smoke-free policy implementation on reported SHS exposure among racially, ethnically diverse seniors living in low-income MUH properties. In Spring 2013 and Summer 2014, we surveyed residents (n = 960) at 15 MUH properties in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties, Florida. The percentage of residents reporting SHS exposure within their apartments from elsewhere in or around their building decreased from 31.1 %, before policy implementation, to 23.6 % at follow-up ( p = 0.02). In multivariate analysis of non-smoking residents after policy implementation, residents who reported having one or more comorbidities were two times more likely to report SHS exposure (aOR 2.23, 95 % CI 1.12-4.40). Considering the vulnerability of low-income seniors to SHS exposure, our findings are relevant to residents, property owners/managers, and public health professionals making decisions about smoke-free policies for MUH properties in which seniors reside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
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