ArticleThe Lancet regional health. Europe2022
Children's exposure to second-hand smoke 10 years on from smoke-free legislation in England: Cotinine data from the Health Survey for England 1998-2018.
Article in The Lancet regional health. Europe, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Adenoidectomy for otitis media with effusion (OME) in children.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- The Effect of Adult Smoking Behavior on Children's Exposure to Secondhand Smoke. An Analysis Based on Salivary Cotinine Levels Among Children in Dhaka and Karachi.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2024Trial
- Article
- Smokefree home rules and susceptibility to cigarette and e-cigarette use in adolescents: the mediating role of attitudes.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Association between household secondhand tobacco smoke exposure and regular e-cigarette use among adolescents: evidence from a national school-based survey.European journal of public health · 2025Article
- Article
- Prevalence and determinants of smoke-free homes in 12 European countries: the TackSHS Survey.ERJ open research · 2025Article
- Secondhand Tobacco Exposure Assessed Using Urinary Cotinine Among 10-Year-Old Children in Japan: An 11-Year Repeated Cross-sectional Study.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2025Article
- Risk Factors for E-Cigarette Ban Relaxation in Homes With Adolescents.The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine · 2024Article
- Incidence, prevalence, and survival of lung cancer in the United Kingdom from 2000-2021: a population-based cohort study.Translational lung cancer research · 2024Article
- Are People More Likely to Vape or Smoke Indoors? A Population Survey of Adults in England.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2024Article
- Secondhand Nicotine Absorption From E-Cigarette Vapor vs Tobacco Smoke in Children.JAMA network open · 2024Article
- Best practices for expansion of smoke-free and aerosol-free environments in Europe: Protocol for the consultation to experts.Tobacco prevention & cessation · 2024Article
- Association between parental smoking and child exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in Israel.Israel journal of health policy research · 2023Article
- Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Smoking Prevalence Among Adolescents.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Tobacco smoke incursion into private residences in Israel: a cross-sectional study examining public perceptions of private rights and support for governmental policies.Israel journal of health policy research · 2023Article
- Concordance assessment through comparison with urine cotinine: Does self-report adequately reflect passive smoking?Tobacco induced diseases · 2023Article
- Geometric Mean Serum Cotinine Concentrations Confirm a Continued Decline in Secondhand Smoke Exposure among U.S. Nonsmokers-NHANES 2003 to 2018.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- The influence of urban exposures and residence on childhood asthma.Pediatric allergy and immunology : official publication of the European Society of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology · 2022Review
- Protecting children from second-hand tobacco smoke: evidence of major progress but a final push is needed in the UK.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWe aimed to investigate trends in children's exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke in England from 1998 to 2018.
methodsWe used twenty-one years of data from the Health Survey for England, a yearly repeated cross-sectional population study. A total of 49,460 children participated between 1998 and 2018, of whom 17,463 were biochemically confirmed non-smokers aged 4-15. We examined changes in (i) the proportion of children living in reported smoke-free homes and (ii) second-hand smoke uptake, measured quantitatively using saliva cotinine concentration.
findingsThe percentage of children living in a home reported to be smoke-free increased from 63.0% (95% CI 60.5%-65.2%) in 1998 to 93.3% (91.8%-94.6%) in 2018. This increase was most pronounced among children with a smoker parent, rising from 17.1% (14.7%-19.8%) to 75.9% (70.8%-80.4%). Segmented regression showed that the rate of adoption of smoke-free homes accelerated leading up to the 2007 ban on smoking in public places, growing most rapidly in the four years after its entry into law. Between 1998 and 2018, there was a ten-fold decline in geometric mean cotinine among non-smoking children, from 0.50 ng/ml (0.46-0.56) to 0.05 ng/ml (0.04-0.06). A total of 65.0% (61.2%-68.6%) of children had undetectable cotinine in 2018, up from 14.3% (12.7%-16.0%) in 1998. Children living in rented accommodation were more exposed than those from owner-occupied households, but they experienced similar relative declines across years.
interpretationCotinine data show that children's exposure to second-hand smoke has fallen by some 90% since 1998, with an apparent acceleration in adoption of smoke-free homes since the 2007 ban on smoking in public places. A norm has emerged that sees smoking in the home as inappropriate, almost universally where parents are non-smokers, but also increasingly among smoking parents.
fundingPublic Health England, now the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, and Cancer Research UK.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.