Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control

Cancer

Smoking Behaviour of Canadians
Cycle 2, 1996/97 (January 1999, No. 1)

Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Perceived Health Risk

Perceived Health Risk from Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS)

The 1996/97 National Population Health Survey (NPHS) asked respondents whether they believed second-hand smoke could cause health problems in non-smokers. Seventy percent of current smokers and 88% of non-smokers said they believe there is a link. Unlike current smokers, the percentage of non-smokers who saw a link between health problems and ETS showed little decline with increasing age. Among younger smokers and non-smokers, there was little difference in perceived risk (Figure 1.11-1).

Perceived risk due to ETS did not differ among males and females. There was also little variability by region, though both smokers and non-smokers in Quebec (69% and 85% respectively) were less likely to perceive health risk due to environmental tobacco smoke than were smokers and non-smokers in other regions.

When asked whether "people are too concerned about the effects of second-hand smoke on their health", 52% of current smokers agreed (more male smokers than female smokers agreed, 55% versus 48% respectively). Nevertheless, two-thirds of these same current smokers (66%) also agreed that ETS is linked to health problems. Interestingly, 30% of non-smokers agreed that people are too concerned about the health effects of ETS, though 83% of these same respondents also saw a link between ETS and health problems. As one might expect, however, smokers and non-smokers who disagreed that people are too concerned about such health effects were much more likely to also see a link between environmental tobacco smoke and health problems (85% and 95% respectively).

Specific Problems Linked to Environmental Tobacco Smoke

Those respondents who said they believed ETS can cause health problems in non-smokers were asked specifically whether it could cause lung cancer, heart disease/heart problems, stroke, or bronchitis/emphysema/ asthma. For all of these specific diseases, non-smokers were more likely than current smokers to perceive a causal link to ETS (Figure 1.11-2). Nevertheless, a strong majority of both current smokers and non-smokers agreed that ETS can cause each of these diseases, except stroke. Just about one-half of current smokers and less than two-thirds of non-smokers believe that there is a link between ETS and stroke. A substantial number of respondents had "no opinion" on whether a specific disease was linked to environmental tobacco smoke exposure (lung cancer, 13%; heart disease/heart problems, 18%; stroke, 25%; and bronchitis/emphysema/asthma, 10%).

There was little variability between males and females. However, there was variability with age group, and a similar pattern of results was seen for all four of the disease outcomes considered. Specifically, there was little difference in the percentage of younger current smokers and non-smokers who perceived a possible link between each disease and ETS. For older age groups, however, the percentage of current smokers perceiving a possible link between ETS and specific diseases declined and diverged from the percentage of non-smokers who perceived a link. As with the initial screening question about ETS exposure and possible health problems, perceived risk declined with age among current smokers but not among non-smokers.

Regional differences for specific disease outcomes were minimal, with a few exceptions. Those in Ontario were more likely to believe ETS can cause heart disease and/or bronchitis/emphysema/asthma in non-smokers than were respondents in other regions. However, Ontarians were not more likely to link lung cancer or stroke to ETS exposure. Smoking and nonsmoking Quebecers were less likely to perceive risk than their counterparts in other regions.