Secondhand smoke exposure and other signs of tobacco consumption at outdoor entrances of primary schools in 11 European countries

Although smoking restrictions at child-related settings are progressively being adopted, school outdoor entrances are neglected in most smoke-free policies across Europe. To describe secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure and tobacco-related signs in outdoor entrances of primary schools in Europe according...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Science of the total environment 2020-11, Vol.743, p.140743-140743, Article 140743
Main Authors: Henderson, Elisabet, Continente, Xavier, Fernández, Esteve, Tigova, Olena, Cortés-Francisco, Nuria, Gallus, Silvano, Lugo, Alessandra, Semple, Sean, O'Donnell, Rachel, Clancy, Luke, Keogan, Sheila, Ruprecht, Ario, Borgini, Alessandro, Tzortzi, Anna, Vyzikidou, Vergina K., Gorini, Giuseppe, López-Nicolás, Angel, Soriano, Joan B., Geshanova, Gergana, Osman, Joseph, Mons, Ute, Przewozniak, Krzysztof, Precioso, José, Brad, Ramona, López, Maria J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Child
Educational center
Smoke-free regulations
Tobacco smoke pollution
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Summary:Although smoking restrictions at child-related settings are progressively being adopted, school outdoor entrances are neglected in most smoke-free policies across Europe. To describe secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure and tobacco-related signs in outdoor entrances of primary schools in Europe according to area-level socioeconomic status (SES), smoke-free policy, national smoking prevalence, and geographical region. In this cross-sectional study we monitored vapor-phase nicotine concentrations at 220 school outdoor entrances in 11 European countries (March 2017–October 2018). To account for nicotine presence, we used the laboratory's limit of quantification of 0.06 μg/m3 as point threshold. We also recorded the presence of smell of smoke, people smoking, cigarette butts, and ashtrays. Half of the schools were in deprived areas. We grouped countries according to their Tobacco Control Scale (TCS) score, smoking prevalence (2017–2018), and United Nations M49 geographical region. There were detectable levels of nicotine in 45.9% of the outdoor entrances, in 29.1% smell of smoke, in 43.2% people smoking, in 75.0% discarded butts, and in 14.6% ashtrays. Median nicotine concentration was below the laboratory's limit of quantification
ISSN:0048-9697
1879-1026
DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140743