Environmental Assessment of Secondhand Smoke Exposure in Private Settings and Outdoor Settings in Europe

This is a European study which is part of a larger research project (TackSHS project) funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant Agreement 681040) and led by the Catalan Institute of Oncology. The main goal of the study is to assess the environmental levels of secondhand smoke (SHS) in non-regulated settings such as private and outdoor settings of 12 European countries (Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom) representing geographical, legislative (country-specific smoke-free policies) and cultural variations across Europe.

This is a multi-country cross-sectional study based on objective environmental measurements of SHS levels. Private settings studied are homes and cars and outdoors settings are terraces of hospitality venues, children playgrounds and entrances of primary school buildings. A total of 1,080 environmental measures of airborne nicotine will be collected. 20 environmental measures will be collected from homes and each of the outdoor settings for the 12 countries involved in the study (960 samples). Regarding cars, 60 environmental measurements will be collected in two countries (Spain and the UK) (120 samples), which have been selected taking into account differences in smoke-free legislation. Further information about SHS exposure will be collected for each setting through brief questionnaires or forms. Medians and interquartile ranges of nicotine concentrations will be calculated by country for each setting studied. Nicotine concentrations will be compared using non-parametric tests according to country, socioeconomic status and other determinants of exposure for each setting.