Overcrowding and exposure to secondhand smoke increase risk for COVID-19 infection among Latinx families in the greater San Francisco Bay Area

Association between exposure to tobacco information through mass media, smoking households and secondhand smoke exposure in adolescents: Survey data from South Korea

INTRODUCTION

To explore the current situation of exposure of Korean adolescents to secondhand smoke (SHS) in households our study aimed to determine the relationship between family member smoking status, exposure to tobacco information through mass media, and household SHS exposure.

METHODS

The present study uses pooled data from the Korean adolescent health behavior online survey conducted in 2015, 2018 and 2021, with 157944 participants. The regression models were used to explore the association between the smoking status of households, and exposure to tobacco information through mass media, and household SHS exposure in adolescents, controlling for potential confounding factors.

RESULTS

SHS exposure duration of Korean adolescents in households was 0.88 days per week. The households with smokers including the father (β=1.087; 95% CI: 1.0-1.126), mother (β=1.461; 95% CI: 1.379- 1.543), siblings (β=0.545; 95% CI: 0.493-0.597), grandparents (β=0.224; 95% CI: 0.174-0.272), and other relatives (β=0.170; 95% CI: 0.126-0.214), showed a positive association with SHS exposure in adolescents within the household. At the same time, information about anti-smoking ads on television (β= -0.042; 95% CI: -0.069 - -0.015) and public transportation (β= -0.031; 95% CI: -0.054 - -0.010), showed a negative association with SHS exposure in adolescents. However, broadcasts, online, and newspaper non-smoking ads were not associated with SHS exposure (p>0.05). In addition, regression models revealed that exposure to cigarette advertising in magazines (β=0.131; 95% CI: 0.097-0.166), networks (β=0.151; 95% CI: 0.127-0.175), convenience stores (β=0.061; 95% CI: 0.035-0.087), and supermarkets (β=0.133; 95% CI: 0.108-0.158) is associated with SHS exposure in adolescents. Finally, our study showed stronger ties between SHS exposure, family smoking, and tobacco ads in girls. The link between maternal smoking, supermarket ads, and adolescent SHS exposure intensified in 2021 compared to 2015.

CONCLUSIONS

Family and media were identified as potential factors associated with SHS exposure in adolescents. Therefore, publicity and education regarding household SHS hazards, and smoking bans in media, can be helpful in protecting adolescents from SHS.

Association between cigarette smoking patterns and severity of COVID-19: Findings from a study in 15 private Hospitals in Indonesia

INTRODUCTION

Indonesia is ranked fourth among countries with the highest smoking rates and has the highest number of male smokers globally. This study aimed to assess the association between cigarette smoking patterns and the severity of COVID-19 among patients in 15 Indonesian hospitals.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted from April to August 2020 using medical records of 490 COVID-19 patients, including the history of their smoking patterns from 15 private referral hospitals in 5 provinces. The severity was defined based on the Guidelines on the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 issued by the Indonesian Ministry of Health, which was indicated by the care provided to patients, namely outpatient, inpatient, and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) services for mild, moderate, and severe symptoms. Smoking patterns were grouped based on adult tobacco use classifications of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Univariate and bivariate analyses were performed.

RESULTS

The results showed that 69.8% of respondents had not smoked cigarettes, 17.1% were active smokers, and 13.1% were former smokers. A significant difference was seen in the number of cigarettes smoked by patients in the ICU, inpatients, and outpatients, among current smokers and passive smokers (p=0.018 and p=0.005, respectively). Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the severity of COVID-19 among current smokers, former smokers, and non-smokers. The time from when smoking was stopped among former smokers was not associated with the severity of COVID-19.

CONCLUSIONS

There was no significant difference in COVID-19 severity between groups of smokers. Passive smoking and the number of cigarettes smoked by smokers daily were associated with the severity of COVID-19. Smoke-free policies should be implemented continuously to protect people from the dangers of secondhand smoke.

Household and social characteristics associated with COVID-19 vaccine intent among Latino families in the San Francisco Bay Area

Background

Latinos have had higher case counts, hospitalization rates and deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic nationally and in the state of California. Meanwhile, Latino vaccination rates remain lower than those of non-Hispanic Whites. COVID-19 vaccine nonintent, defined as intent to not vaccinate against COVID-19, among Latino individuals continues to be an issue in the state of California.

Methods

Families from three Latino longitudinal mother–child cohorts previously recruited in the San Francisco Bay Area were surveyed telephonically from February to June 2021 to assess attitudes towards vaccination against COVID-19 and prior vaccination, in general, for themselves and their children. Risk for vaccine nonintent was assessed using the Mann–Whitney rank sum non-parametric test for continuous predictors and chi-squared tests for categorical ones.

Results

Three hundred and nineteen families were surveyed from the Telomere at Birth (TAB), Hispanic Eating and Nutrition (HEN) and Latino Eating and Diabetes Cohort (LEAD). Approximately 36% from TAB and 28% from HEN/LEAD indicated COVID-19 vaccine nonintent for themselves and/or their children. Risk factors for vaccine nonintent included lower maternal age (p = 0.01), concern about vaccine side effects (p < 0.01) and prior history of a household members being infected with SARS-CoV-2 (p < 0.01) and indexes of household crowding including number of people sharing a bathroom (p = 0.048). Vaccine intent was also associated with receiving vaccine input from friends (p = 0.03), family (p < 0.01) and/or coworkers (p = 0.02) compared with those who were not planning on getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

Conclusions

Latino families living in crowded living situations who may not have received any COVID-19 advice from family, coworkers or friends are at particular risk for nonintent for vaccinatation against COVID-19. Community-based grassroots or promotor/a based interventions centered on trusted individuals with close community ties and counseling concerning vaccination against COVID-19 could help boost vaccination rates in this population group.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12879-022-07467-3.

Overcrowded housing increases risk for COVID-19 mortality: an ecological study

Objectives

Overcrowded housing is a sociodemographic variable associated with increased infection and mortality rates from communicable diseases. It is not well understood if this association exists for COVID-19. Our objective was hence to determine the association between household overcrowding and risk of mortality from COVID-19, and this was done by performing bivariable and multivariable analyses using COVID-19 data from cities in Los Angeles County.

Results

Bivariate regression revealed that overcrowded households were positively associated with COVID-19 deaths (standardized β = 0.863, p < 0.001). COVID-19 case totals, people aged 60+, and the number of overcrowded households met conditions for inclusion in the backwards stepwise linear regression model. Analysis revealed all independent variables were positively associated with mortality rates, primarily for individuals 60 + (standardized β₁ = 0.375, p = 0.001), followed by overcrowded households (standardized β₂ = 0.346, p = 0.014), and total COVID-19 cases (standardized β₃ = 0.311, p < 0.001). Our findings highlight that residing in overcrowded households may be an important risk factor for COVID-19 mortality. Public health entities should consider this population when allocating resources for prevention and control of COVID-19 mortality and future disease outbreaks.