Secondhand smoke exposure among nonsmoking youth : United States, 2013\u20132016

Key findingsData from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey\u2022 In 2013\u20132016, more than one-third (35.4%) of U.S. nonsmoking youth aged 3\u201317 years were exposed to secondhand smoke (SHS) from tobacco, as measured by cotinine in the blood.\u2022 The percentage of SHS exposure was higher for youth aged 3\u201311 than for youth aged 12\u201317, and similar for boys and girls.\u2022 A higher percentage of non-Hispanic black (61.8%) youth was exposed to SHS compared with non-Hispanic white (34.3%), non-Hispanic Asian (18.3%), and Hispanic (24.9%) youth.\u2022 The percentage of SHS-exposed youth increased with decreasing family income.\u2022 The percentage of SHS-exposed youth living with two or more tobacco smokers was more than three times as high as youth not living with a smoker.Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure comes from the inhalation of smoke from burning cigarettes, cigars, and pipes (1). SHS can cause sudden infant death syndrome, respiratory and ear infections, and asthma attacks in youth (1,2). Decreases in tobacco smoking, awareness of SHS health risks, and smoke-free policies may have contributed to a reduction in SHS exposure since the late 1980s (3,4). However, in recent years, the percentage of youth with SHS exposure has remained steady (5). This report describes the prevalence of SHS exposure among nonsmoking youth in 2013\u20132016, as defined by serum cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine.Suggested citation: Brody DJ, Lu Z, Tsai J. Secondhand smoke exposure among nonsmoking youth: United States, 2013\u20132016. NCHS Data Brief, no 348. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2019.CS309517db348-h.pdf2019700