CUHK E-Newsletter

A study by the CUHK Faculty of Medicine reveals that the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) of female who exposes to passive household smoking from spouses will be increased by 3.9 fold. With the implementation of the Smoking (Public Health) Bill from 1 January 2007, indoor workplace and public places are no smoking areas. Household smoking will increase inevitably creating another health care problem to the society.

Active smoking is a known risk factor for CHD, a top killer as a single disease in Hong Kong and worldwide. In the recent few years, overseas research data also suggests that passive smoking (or second-hand smoking) could be a risk factor for heart diseases. The S.H. Ho Cardiovascular and Stroke Centre and Division of Cardiology of the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics conducted a research project to analyze the females' exposure to passive household smoking from 2004 to 2006. A total of 507 female patients were interviewed face to face by a detailed questionnaire. These patients were enrolled from major hospitals of New Territories East Cluster, and mainly from Prince of Wales Hospital. Of these, 239 female patients with CHD and 268 patients without CHD as controls, all of them never smoke.

The results showed that 34% of patients with CHD and 25% of patients without CHD were exposed to passive household smoking. Also, passive household smoking exposure will increase the risk of CHD by 1.6 fold. Moreover, the risk will be increased to nearly 3.6 fold if their spouses smoked for 10 years or more. Similarly, the risk will be strikingly increased to 3.9 fold if their male spouses smoked for one pack of cigarette per day or more. In conclusion, passive household smoking increases the risk of CHD in female if their spouses are active smokers. The risk is proportional to the intensity and duration of exposure to passive household smoking.