Secondhand smoke exposure and associated factors among city residents living in multiunit housing in Bangladesh

Md Golam Kibria; Ahmed Hossain; Taslima Islam; Kazi Rakibul Islam; H M Miraz Mahmud; Mohammad Hayatun Nabi; Mohammad Delwer Hossain Hawlader

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0291746

Secondhand smoke exposure and associated factors among city residents living in multiunit housing in Bangladesh

PLoS One. 2023 Sep 21;18(9):e0291746. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0291746. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Md Golam Kibria¹, Ahmed Hossain², Taslima Islam^{1

3}, Kazi Rakibul Islam⁴, H M Miraz Mahmud⁵, Mohammad Hayatun Nabi⁶, Mohammad Delwer Hossain Hawlader^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Research, Centre for Development Action, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
² Health Services Administrations, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE.
³ Department of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, Social Development Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁴ Department of Public Health, Northern University Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁵ Department of Research & Evaluation, Bangladesh Center for Communication Programs, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁶ Department of Public Health, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Abstract

Background: Secondhand smoke (SHS) poses a high health risk to those living in multiunit housing (MUH) since it can easily spread from unit to unit and throughout the building's communal areas. MUH residents in Bangladesh are particularly vulnerable to SHS due to the absence of smoking restrictions within a housing complex. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence of SHS exposure and its associated factors among MUH residents living in seven divisional cities of Bangladesh- Dhaka, Chattogram, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet, Barishal, and Rangpur.

Methods: From April 2019 to November 2019, a cross-sectional survey was conducted with 616 MUH residents aged 18 or older who had been residing in MUH for at least two years in the seven divisional cities of Bangladesh. A multivariable logistic regression model was performed to determine the associated factors of SHS exposure.

Results: In MUH complexes, more than half (54.9%) of the 616 respondents were exposed to SHS. The key factors positively associated with SHS exposure were females (aOR: 1.8, 95% CI:1.236-2.681), residents with a low monthly family income (aOR: 1.9, 95% CI: 1.162-3.220), those whose family members smoked (aOR: 2.4, 95% CI: 1.537-3.746), and Dhaka city residents (aOR: 1.9, 95% CI: 1.013-3.440).

Conclusions: This study revealed a high prevalence of SHS exposure among Bangladeshi MUH residents. Therefore, a smoking ban is needed in and around MUH complexes to protect non-smoking residents from SHS exposure.

Copyright: © 2023 Kibria et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bangladesh / epidemiology
Cities
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Housing*
Humans
Male
Tobacco Smoke Pollution*

Substances

Tobacco Smoke Pollution

Grants and funding

This study was conducted with funding from the Institute for Global Tobacco Control, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH), Baltimore, USA and with technical support from the local organization Bangladesh Center for Communication Programs (BCCP) (Ref: GC#BCCP/Tobacco/2019-01).