CHARACTERISTICS OF NONSMOKING WOMEN IN NHANES-I AND NHANES-I EPIDEMIOLOGIC FOLLOW-UP-STUDY WITH EXPOSURE TO SPOUSES WHO SMOKE

Few studies have examined the relation between passive smoking and die tary intake in a large population, This report examines the nutrition and behavioral characteristics of 3,896 nonsmoking women from the firs t National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I) populati on in relation to exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. The data in dicate that nonsmoking women who were exposed to husbands who smoked w ere more likely to be older, have lower education, live in the city, a nd have other health behaviors that could increase their risk of lung cancer compared with nonsmoking women with husbands who did not smoke. The nonexposed women were more likely to take vitamin supplements, to not drink alcohol, and to consume higher levels of dietary vitamin A, vitamin C, and calcium, The exposed and nonexposed women showed no di fference in the levels of fatty acid intake nor in the levels of sever al other foods from the food frequency list after correction for age, Many of the differences that the authors observed between the women wh o were exposed and nonexposed to passive smoking could affect the risk of cancer. Therefore, they recommend that future studies of nonsmoker s examine the influence of both passive smoking and diet on the risk o f disease rather than examine the influence of a single factor.