Skip to main content
NCBI home page
American Journal of Public Health logoLink to American Journal of Public Health
. 1999 Apr;89(4):572–575. doi: 10.2105/ajph.89.4.572

Ischemic stroke risk and passive exposure to spouses' cigarette smoking. Melbourne Stroke Risk Factor Study (MERFS) Group.

R X You 1, A G Thrift 1, J J McNeil 1, S M Davis 1, G A Donnan 1
PMCID: PMC1508880  PMID: 10191806

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the association between ischemic stroke risk and passive exposure to cigarette smoking. METHODS: Risk factors among 452 hospitalized cases of first-episode ischemic stroke were compared with 452 age- and sex-matched "neighbor-hood" controls. RESULTS: The risk of stroke was twice as high for subjects whose spouses smoked as for those whose spouses did not smoke (95% confidence interval = 1.3, 3.1), after adjustment for the subject's own smoking, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and education level. These results were confirmed when analysis was limited to those who never smoked. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide evidence that spousal smoking may be a significant risk factor for ischemic stroke.

Full text

PDF
572

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Brownson R. C., Alavanja M. C., Hock E. T., Loy T. S. Passive smoking and lung cancer in nonsmoking women. Am J Public Health. 1992 Nov;82(11):1525–1530. doi: 10.2105/ajph.82.11.1525. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Byrd J. C., Shapiro R. S., Schiedermayer D. L. Passive smoking: a review of medical and legal issues. Am J Public Health. 1989 Feb;79(2):209–215. doi: 10.2105/ajph.79.2.209. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Donnan G. A., McNeil J. J., Adena M. A., Doyle A. E., O'Malley H. M., Neill G. C. Smoking as a risk factor for cerebral ischaemia. Lancet. 1989 Sep 16;2(8664):643–647. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(89)90894-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Gillis C. R., Hole D. J., Hawthorne V. M., Boyle P. The effect of environmental tobacco smoke in two urban communities in the west of Scotland. Eur J Respir Dis Suppl. 1984;133:121–126. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Glantz S. A., Parmley W. W. Passive smoking and heart disease. Epidemiology, physiology, and biochemistry. Circulation. 1991 Jan;83(1):1–12. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.83.1.1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Graham N. M. The epidemiology of acute respiratory infections in children and adults: a global perspective. Epidemiol Rev. 1990;12:149–178. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.epirev.a036050. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Howard G., Wagenknecht L. E., Burke G. L., Diez-Roux A., Evans G. W., McGovern P., Nieto F. J., Tell G. S. Cigarette smoking and progression of atherosclerosis: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. JAMA. 1998 Jan 14;279(2):119–124. doi: 10.1001/jama.279.2.119. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Kawachi I., Colditz G. A., Speizer F. E., Manson J. E., Stampfer M. J., Willett W. C., Hennekens C. H. A prospective study of passive smoking and coronary heart disease. Circulation. 1997 May 20;95(10):2374–2379. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.95.10.2374. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Lee P. N., Chamberlain J., Alderson M. R. Relationship of passive smoking to risk of lung cancer and other smoking-associated diseases. Br J Cancer. 1986 Jul;54(1):97–105. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1986.157. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Lesmes G. R., Donofrio K. H. Passive smoking: the medical and economic issues. Am J Med. 1992 Jul 15;93(1A):38S–42S. doi: 10.1016/0002-9343(92)90626-m. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Molgaard C. A., Bartok A., Peddecord K. M., Rothrock J. The association between cerebrovascular disease and smoking: a case-control study. Neuroepidemiology. 1986;5(2):88–94. doi: 10.1159/000110818. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Sandler D. P., Comstock G. W., Helsing K. J., Shore D. L. Deaths from all causes in non-smokers who lived with smokers. Am J Public Health. 1989 Feb;79(2):163–167. doi: 10.2105/ajph.79.2.163. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. You R. X., McNeil J. J., Hurley S. F., Farish S. J., O'Malley H. M., Quang L., Donnan G. A. Smoking as a risk factor for cortical ischaemia presumably due to carotid occlusive disease. Neuroepidemiology. 1993;12(3):141–147. doi: 10.1159/000110313. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. You R., McNeil J. J., O'Malley H. M., Davis S. M., Donnan G. A. Risk factors for lacunar infarction syndromes. Neurology. 1995 Aug;45(8):1483–1487. doi: 10.1212/wnl.45.8.1483. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from American Journal of Public Health are provided here courtesy of American Public Health Association

RESOURCES