Person:

Winickoff, Jonathan

Background: Assisting smoking parents to quit smoking and eliminating the secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure of their children is a global health priority. Engaging healthcare workers in developing countries to address this priority has been a challenge. This study intends to explore issues around current practice related to SHS exposure assessment and counseling and identify barriers to SHS exposure reduction counseling in the Chinese pediatric setting. Methods: We conducted qualitative interviews (11 focus groups discussions (FGDs) with pediatricians, 6 FGDs with pediatric nurses and 11 in-depth interviews (IDIs) with hospital administrators) among 101 health-care professionals (HCP) from 5 hospitals in four major cities of Guangxi Province, China. All FGDs/ IDIs were audio recorded and analysed thematically. Results: The findings suggest that few Chinese pediatricians routinely address the SHS exposure of children in their usual practice. All HCPs felt the need for clinical interventions to promote SHS exposure reduction for children. Primary barriers to SHS exposure reduction counseling in the Chinese pediatric setting included: lack of skills and training in tobacco use reduction and cessation counseling; time constraints and heavy workloads, uncertainty about the usefulness of smoking cessation interventions and lack of hospital-wide systems requiring pediatricians to record tobacco use or SHS exposure information. Ideas for overcoming these barriers were building capacity of pediatricians, collaboration with international organization to initiate training, engaging top level leaders in the effort and ensuring financial resources to support the program. Conclusions: This study among hospital administrators and service providers in China demonstrated a high level of interest in delivering SHS exposure reduction interventions in the pediatric setting. The findings can inform the creation and delivery of clinical interventions in China to promote SHS exposure reduction to children in the pediatric setting. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2431-14-266) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Cigarette smoking remains a significant health threat for smokers and nonsmokers alike. Secondhand smoke (SHS) is intrinsically more toxic than directly inhaled smoke. Recently, a new threat has been discovered – Thirdhand smoke (THS) – the accumulation of SHS on surfaces that ages with time, becoming progressively more toxic. THS is a potential health threat to children, spouses of smokers and workers in environments where smoking is or has been allowed. The goal of this study is to investigate the effects of THS on liver, lung, skin healing, and behavior, using an animal model exposed to THS under conditions that mimic exposure of humans. THS-exposed mice show alterations in multiple organ systems and excrete levels of NNAL (a tobacco-specific carcinogen biomarker) similar to those found in children exposed to SHS (and consequently to THS). In liver, THS leads to increased lipid levels and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, a precursor to cirrhosis and cancer and a potential contributor to cardiovascular disease. In lung, THS stimulates excess collagen production and high levels of inflammatory cytokines, suggesting propensity for fibrosis with implications for inflammation-induced diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. In wounded skin, healing in THS-exposed mice has many characteristics of the poor healing of surgical incisions observed in human smokers. Lastly, behavioral tests show that THS-exposed mice become hyperactive. The latter data, combined with emerging associated behavioral problems in children exposed to SHS/THS, suggest that, with prolonged exposure, they may be at significant risk for developing more severe neurological disorders. These results provide a basis for studies on the toxic effects of THS in humans and inform potential regulatory policies to prevent involuntary exposure to THS.

This study explored factors associated with SHS exposure from parental smoking in Chinese families and assessed nature of antismoking discussions parents had with their children's pediatricians and how pediatricians might best engage with parents in an effort to reduce children's exposure to SHS. Six focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted among 33 Chinese parents attending six major hospitals in Guangxi province, China. Most participants (32/33) had family members who smoke, and only 21% had strict restriction on smoking at home. Some parents did not know about health consequences of smoking and effects of SHS exposure on children. Situations that made it especially hard to avoid the child's SHS exposure were having an elderly smoker at home and having a visitor who smoked. Only few parents were asked by pediatricians about child's exposure to SHS at home, but only when child's illness was related to smoking. Parents believed that suggestions coming from pediatricians about smoke-free home and parental quitting would be acceptable to parents and other household members. The findings provide insight into SHS exposure reduction effort among Chinese parents and underscore the demand for pediatrician's engagement in addressing parental tobacco use.

Background: Pediatricians play an important role in promoting smoking cessation among the parents of young children as more behavioral counseling and cessation treatment are made available in the Chinese healthcare system. However, beliefs about the effectiveness of these interventions can influence pediatricians’ recommendations to their patients. This study examined pediatricians’ beliefs regarding effectiveness of counseling and medications for smoking cessation. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of pediatricians was conducted in thirteen conveniently selected southern Chinese hospitals, during September to December 2013. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. We used chi square tests and multinomial logistic regression analysis to identify factors associated with beliefs regarding effectiveness of counseling and medications for smoking cessation. Results: Beliefs of the respondents (504/550; 92% response rate) were divided regarding the effectiveness of counseling and medications for smoking cessation. Sixty percent believed that physician counseling is effective for smoking cessation; 53% believed pharmacological products (or medications) are effective. Factors that were associated with positive beliefs towards the effectiveness of counseling included: believing about the professional responsibility to discuss smoking cessation, being confident in discussing smoking cessation or SHS exposure reduction with patients’ parents, believing that health professionals should routinely ask about their patients smoking habits, believing that health professionals should routinely advise their smoking patients to quit smoking, possessing adequate knowledge in quitting smoking, and being able to assess smokers different stages of readiness to quit. Most of the above factors were also associated with the belief that medication is effective for smoking cessation. Conclusions: A substantial proportion of Chinese pediatricians believed that cessation counseling and medications are not effective, which is not supported by current evidence in the field. Several factors including individual, practice level and health system level characteristics were associated with their belief. Training efforts are needed to influence pediatricians’ beliefs regarding the effectiveness of cessation counseling and medications.

(1) Background:: The home environment is a major source of Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) exposure among children especially in early childhood. ETS exposure is an important health risk among children and can cause severe and chronic diseases, such as asthma, bronchitis, and premature death. However, ETS exposure at home has often been neglected in the Chinese families. Identification of factors that facilitate or otherwise hamper the adoption of home smoking ban will help in the design and implementation of evidence-based intervention programs. This study identifies factors correlated with home smoking bans in Chinese families with children. (2) Methods:: A cross-sectional survey of parents living in Nanning city, Guangxi Province, China with at least one smoker and a child in the household was conducted between September, 2013 and January, 2014. A Chi-square test was used to compare categorical variables differences between the parents who had home smoking bans and those with no home smoking ban. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors correlated with home smoking bans. (3) Results:: 969 completed questionnaires were collected with a response rate of 92.29% (969/1050). Of the respondents (n = 969), 14.34% had complete home smoking bans. Factors that were associated with home smoking bans were: having no other smokers in the family (OR = 2.173), attaining education up to high school (OR = 2.471), believing that paternal smoking would increase the risk of lower respiratory tract illnesses (OR = 2.755), perceiving the fact that smoking cigarettes in the presence of the child will hurt the child’s health (OR = 1.547), believing that adopting a no smoking policy at home is very important (OR = 2.816), and being confident to prevent others to smoke at home (OR = 1.950). Additionally, parents who perceived difficulty in adopting a no smoking policy at home would not have a home smoking ban (OR = 0.523). (4) Conclusions:: A home smoking ban is not widely adopted by families of hospitalized children in Guangxi Province, China. To protect the health of children, there is a need to develop and test interventions to promote home smoking bans. Factors identified as predictors of home smoking ban should be considered in the design of interventions.

Background: Secondhand Smoke (SHS) exposure is a leading cause of childhood illness and premature death. Pediatricians play an important role in helping parents to quit smoking and reducing children’s SHS exposure. This study examined Chinese pediatricians’ attitudes and practices regarding children’s exposure to SHS and clinical efforts against SHS exposure. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of pediatricians was conducted in thirteen conveniently selected hospitals in southern China, during September to December 2013. Five hundred and four pediatricians completed self-administered questionnaires with a response rate of 92%. χ2 tests were used to compare categorical variables differences between smokers and non-smokers and other categorical variables. Results: Pediatricians thought that the key barriers to encouraging parents to quit smoking were: lack of professional training (94%), lack of time (84%), resistance to discussions about smoking (77%). 94% of the pediatricians agreed that smoking in enclosed public places should be prohibited and more than 70% agreed that smoking should not be allowed in any indoor places and in cars. Most of the pediatricians thought that their current knowledge on helping people to quit smoking and SHS exposure reduction counseling was insufficient. Conclusions: Many Chinese pediatricians did not have adequate knowledge about smoking and SHS, and many lacked confidence about giving cessation or SHS exposure reduction counseling to smoking parents. Lack of professional training and time were the most important barriers to help parents quit smoking among the Chinese pediatricians. Intensified efforts are called for to provide the necessary professional training and increase pediatricians’ participation in the training.

Background: Every U.S. state has a free telephone quitline that tobacco users can access to receive cessation assistance, yet referral rates for parents in the pediatric setting remain low. This study evaluates, within pediatric offices, the impact of proactive enrollment of parents to quitlines compared to provider suggestion to use the quitline and identifies other factors associated with parental quitline use. Methods: As part of a cluster randomized controlled trial (Clinical Effort Against Secondhand Smoke Exposure), research assistants completed post-visit exit interviews with parents in 20 practices in 16 states. Parents’ quitline use was assessed at a 12-month follow-up interview. A multivariable analysis was conducted for quitline use at 12 months using a logistic regression model with generalized estimating equations to account for provider clustering. Self-reported cessation rates were also compared among quitline users based on the type of referral they received at their child’s doctor’s office. Results: Of the 1980 parents enrolled in the study, 1355 (68 %) completed a 12-month telephone interview and of those 139 (10 %) reported talking with a quitline (15 % intervention versus 6 % control; p < .0001). Parents who were Hispanic (aOR 2.12 (1.22, 3.70)), black (aOR 1.57 (1.14, 2.16)), planned to quit smoking in the next 30 days (aOR 2.32 (1.47, 3.64)), and had attended an intervention practice (aOR 2.37 (1.31, 4.29)) were more likely to have talked with a quitline. Parents who only received a suggestion from a healthcare provider to use the quitline (aOR 0.45 (0.23, 0.90)) and those who were not enrolled and did not receive a suggestion (aOR 0.33 (0.17, 0.64)) were less likely to talk with a quitline than those who were enrolled in the quitline during the baseline visit. Self-reported cessation rates among quitline users were similar regardless of being proactively enrolled (19 %), receiving only a suggestion (25 %), or receiving neither a suggestion nor an enrollment (17 %) during a visit (p = 0.47). Conclusions: These results highlight the enhanced clinical effectiveness of not just recommending the quitline to parents but also offering them enrollment in the quitline at the time of their child's visit to the pediatric office. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, Identifier: NCT00664261

Background/Objective Electronic cigarette (E-cigarettes) emissions present a potentially new hazard to neonates through inhalation, dermal and oral contact. Exposure to nicotine containing E-cigarettes may cause significant systemic absorption in neonates due to the potential for multi-route exposure. Systemic absorption of nicotine and constituents of E-cigarette emissions may adversely impact weight and lung development in the neonate. To address these questions we exposed neonatal mice to E-cigarette emissions and measured systemic cotinine levels and alveolar lung growth. Methods/Main Results Neonatal mice were exposed to E-cigarettes for the first 10 days of life. E-cigarette cartridges contained either 1.8% nicotine in propylene glycol (PG) or PG vehicle alone. Daily weights, plasma and urine cotinine levels and lung growth using the alveolar mean linear intercept (MLI) method were measured at 10 days of life and compared to room air controls. Mice exposed to 1.8% nicotine/PG had a 13.3% decrease in total body weight compared to room air controls. Plasma cotinine levels were found to be elevated in neonatal mice exposed to 1.8% nicotine/PG E-cigarettes (mean 62.34± 3.3 ng/ml). After adjusting for sex and weight, the nicotine exposed mice were found to have modestly impaired lung growth by MLI compared to room air control mice (p<.054 trial 1; p<.006 trial 2). These studies indicate that exposure to E-cigarette emissions during the neonatal period can adversely impact weight gain. In addition exposure to nicotine containing E-cigarettes can cause detectable levels of systemic cotinine, diminished alveolar cell proliferation and a modest impairment in postnatal lung growth.

Children’s exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) at home has numerous adverse health effects. This study evaluated the effects of a pediatric in-patient department-based pilot smoking cessation intervention for household members to reduce children’s SHS exposure and encourage smoking cessation. A pre-post test design study was designed to assess the effectiveness of a telephone counseling intervention on household members of hospitalized children in pediatric departments. Data were collected with a standardized Chinese language questionnaire. At the three-month follow-up survey, the proportions of household members who reported adopting complete smoking restriction at home (55%), did not smoke at home at all (37%), did not allow others to smoke in the car (70%), or did not allow others to smoke around the child (57%) were significantly higher than the self-reported responses at the baseline survey. The proportions of household members who reported smoking at home (49%) and in the car (22%) were significantly lower than the baseline survey. Overall, 7% of the participants had reported quitting smoking after three months. Pediatric in-patient department-based telephone counseling for smoking cessation was found to be acceptable to Chinese parents. The intervention encouraged few parents to quit smoking, but encouraged more parents to take measures to reduce children’s SHS exposure.

Background: Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure of children due to parental tobacco use is a particularly prevalent health issue and is associated with adverse health outcomes. Following the US Clinical Practice guidelines, pediatricians in the United States deliver 5A’s (ask, advise, assess, assist, and arrange) counseling to smoking parents which has proven to be effective. We examined Chinese pediatricians’ adherence to the clinical practice guidelines for smoking cessation (i.e. 5A’s counseling practices) with smoking parents, and identified factors associated with these practices. Methods: A cross-sectional paper-and-pencil survey of pediatricians was conducted in twelve conveniently selected southern Chinese hospitals. Factors associated with any of the 5A’s smoking cessation counseling practices were identified by logistic regression. Results: Of respondents (504/550), only 26 % routinely provided 5A’s smoking cessation counseling to smoking parents. More than 80 % of pediatricians didn’t receive formal training in smoking cessation and had not read China smoking cessation guidelines; 24 % reported being “very confident” in discussing smoking or SHS reduction with parents. Pediatricians who had never smoked (OR: 2.29, CI:1.02-5.12), received training in smoking cessation (OR: 2.50, CI:1.40-4.48), had read China smoking cessation guidelines (OR: 2.17, CI:1.10-4.26), and felt very (OR: 7.12, CI:2.45-20.70) or somewhat (OR: 3.05, CI:1.11-8.37) confident in delivering cessation counseling were more likely to practice 5A’s. Pediatricians who reported “it is hard to find a time to talk with parents” (OR: 0.32, CI: 0.11-0.92) or “lack of a standard of care requiring pediatricians to provide smoking cessation or SHS exposure reduction intervention” (OR: 0.45, CI: 0.21-0.98) as a barrier were less likely to follow the 5A’s guidelines. Conclusions: Smoking cessation counseling to address parental smoking is infrequent among Chinese pediatricians. There is a need to develop and test intervention strategies to improve the delivery of 5A’s smoking cessation counseling to parental smokers.