Study shows secondhand-smoke exposure

Going to college introduces more than just higher education and different lifestyles to students.

It also is exposing them to high levels of secondhand smoke, according to a study at 10 North Carolina universities conducted in the fall of 2006 by Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

According to researchers, 83 percent of the 4,223 students said they had been exposed at least once in the previous week to secondhand smoke, primarily in such social settings as restaurants, bars, Greek houses, off-campus housing and automobiles.

The study, released yesterday, is the first to provide evidence of the high rates of secondhand-smoke exposure among U.S. college students, the school said.

Mark Wolfson, the lead author on the study, said that researchers "were really shocked" to see that level of secondhand-smoke exposure.

"That said, we don't know if the exposure was at a nuisance level or at a level that might influence health," said Wolfson, the top official for the Section on Society and Health in the Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy at the medical school.

Wolfson said that Wake Forest was not among the eight public and two private universities that participated. The schools ranged in undergraduate population from 2,500 to 16,000.

However, Wake Forest is instituting a smoke-free policy in residence halls this fall, said Kevin Cox, the director of media relations for the university. Winston-Salem State ended smoking in residence halls last year.

Cox said he didn't know what caused the change. "I am told by our residence-life and housing staff that smoke-free residence halls are common at other ACC schools," he said.

According to a report on the American Lung Association's Web site, secondhand smoke causes almost 50,000 deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year.

"Knowing what we know about secondhand smoke, lowering the rates of smoking is definitely something we should be seriously looking at on college campuses," Wolfson said.

Researchers asked students about their drinking and smoking habits, demographics, where they lived and secondhand-smoke exposure.

"Social smoking played a big role in the amount of secondhand smoking," Wolfson said.

Other factors associated with increased exposure to secondhand smoke included being female, being white, having parents with higher education levels and attending a public rather than private school.

"While some college campuses are smoke-free, others have virtually no restrictions on smoking, not even in the residence halls," Wolfson said. "There is a growing national movement to move away from that, but it still very much varies by campus."

The study comes at a time when advocacy efforts, spearheaded by the N.C. Health and Wellness Trust Fund, have led 31 colleges, universities and community colleges to adopt tobacco-use policies as of July 1. The fund has contributed about $3.4 million to programs geared toward preventing and reducing tobacco use among college students.

Four schools in the UNC system -- Elizabeth City State University, UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Pembroke and Winston-Salem State -- do not permit smoking within a 100-foot perimeter of a campus building. Cox said that Wake Forest has a 50-foot perimeter. The other 27 colleges and community colleges, including Davidson County and Guilford Technical community colleges, have adopted 100 percent tobacco-free-campus policies.

The Wake Forest study, along with previous studies, expressed concerns that many first-time smokers are attracted by tobacco marketing focused on restaurants and bars near campus. They also said that some students turn to cigarettes as a coping mechanism as they adjust to the stresses of college life.

"It's concerning that after all the efforts for making our public schools 100 percent tobacco free that some students are taking up smoking in college, or being exposed to secondhand smoke for the first time in college," said Mark Ezzell, the tobacco-free-campus director for the fund.

Wolfson said that debates about smoking restrictions, especially on college campuses, often revolve around considerations of individual choice.

With a statewide smoking ban in bars and restaurants taking effect Jan. 2, Wolfson said he is hopeful that the exposure rate to secondhand smoke will decline significantly.

"We're going to conduct studies this fall and the fall of 2010 to determine whether the exposure to secondhand smoke drops or just goes to a different location, such as student residences," Wolfson said.

The study was paid for by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. It will appear in the July 23 issue of Nicotine & Tobacco Research.

■ Richard Craver can be reached at 727-7376 or at rcraver@wsjournal.com.