Changes in the SF-8 scores among healthy non-smoking school teachers after the enforcement of a smoke-free school policy: a comparison by passive smoke status

Health and Quality of Life Outcomes

Research

Yuko Takahashi¹  Takashi Kawamura²  Kosuke Kiyohara²  Yuri Itani³  Yoshitaka Matsumoto³ 

[1] Health Administration Center, Nara Women's University, Kitauoya-Nishimachi, 630-8506, Nara, Japan;Kyoto University Health Service, Yoshida-Honmachi, 606-8501, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan;Public Health Center, 630-8325, Nara City, 200-46, Nishikitsujicho, Nara, Japan;

关键词: Environmental Tobacco Smoke;    Passive Smoker;    Senior High School;    Category Score;    Secondhand Smoke;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1477-7525-8-44

 received in 2009-09-07, accepted in 2010-04-28,  发布年份 2010

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe effects of the enforcement of a smoke-free workplace policy on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among a healthy population are poorly understood. The present study was undertaken to examine the effects of the enforcement of a smoke-free school policy on HRQOL among healthy non-smoking schoolteachers with respect to their exposure to passive smoke.MethodsTwo self-reported questionnaire surveys were conducted, the first before and the second after the enforcement of a total smoke-free public school policy in Nara City. A total of 1534 teachers were invited from 62 schools, and their HRQOL was assessed using six domains extracted from the Medical Outcomes Survey Short Form-8 questionnaire (SF-8): general health perception (GH), role functioning-physical (RP), vitality (VT), social functioning (SF), mental health (MH), and role functioning-emotional (RE). The participants were divided into two groups according to their exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) at baseline: participants not exposed to ETS at school (non-smokers), and participants exposed to ETS at school (passive smokers). Changes in each SF-8 score were evaluated using paired t-tests for each group, and their inter-group differences were evaluated using multiple linear regression analyses adjusted for sex, age, school type, managerial position, and attitude towards a smoke-free policy.ResultsAfter ineligible subjects were excluded, 689 teachers were included in the analyses. The number of non-smokers and passive smokers was 447 and 242, respectively. Significant changes in SF-8 scores were observed for MH (0.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.2-1.5) and RE (0.7; 95% CI, 0.0-1.3) in non-smokers, and GH (2.2; 95% CI, 1.2-3.1), VT (1.8; 95% CI, 0.9-2.7), SF (2.7; 95% CI, 1.6-3.8), MH (2.0; 95% CI, 1.0-2.9), and RE (2.0; 95% CI, 1.2-2.8) in passive smokers. In the multiple linear regression analyses, the net changes in the category scores of GH (1.8; 95% CI, 0.7-2.9), VT (1.4, 95% CI, 0.3-2.5), SF (2.5; 95% CI, 1.1-3.9), MH (1.2; 95% CI, 0.1-2.4) and RE (1.6; 95% CI, 0.5-2.7) in passive smokers significantly exceeded those in non-smokers.ConclusionsA smoke-free school policy would improve the HRQOL of healthy non-smoking teachers who are exposed to ETS.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Kiyohara et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.