Introduction

Questionnaires are widely used to assess secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure. However, the validity of self-reported SHS exposure indicators has been rarely assessed. We aimed to assess correlations, sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values between self-reported SHS exposure indicators and airborne nicotine concentrations.

Methods

We performed a cross-sectional study with a convenience sample of 175 homes in Barcelona and Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Airborne nicotine samples were collected from participants’ homes and a self-administered questionnaire was completed on SHS exposure in the home. Spearman correlations coefficients and sensitivity, specificity and predictive values were assessed between self-reported SHS exposure indicators and nicotine concentrations in the home.

Results

All self-reported SHS exposure indicators correlated moderately strongly with airborne nicotine concentrations (Spearman correlations coefficient ranging from 0.58 to 0.65). Moreover, sensitivities and negative predictive values between self-reported indicators and the presence of nicotine in the home were below 66.4% while specificities and positive predictive values were over 78.4%. The “number of people usually smoking in the home” showed the best results (r_s = 0.65, p < 0.001; sensitivity = 50.4%, specificity = 95.2%, PPV = 95.0, NPV = 51.3).

Conclusions

The self-reported SHS indicators assessed in this study showed moderate and strong correlations, low sensitivities, and high specificities. Among them, the best results were obtained with the “number of people usually smoking in the home”.

中文翻译：

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自我报告的指标对评估家庭二手烟暴露的有效性

介绍

问卷被广泛用于评估二手烟（SHS）暴露。但是，很少评估自我报告的SHS暴露指标的有效性。我们旨在评估自我报告的SHS暴露指标与空气中尼古丁浓度之间的相关性，敏感性，特异性和预测值。

方法

我们对便利性样本进行了横断面研究，样本包括巴塞罗那和西班牙圣地亚哥德孔波斯特拉的175套房屋。从参与者的家中采集空气中的尼古丁样品，并完成关于家中SHS暴露的自我管理调查表。在自我报告的SHS暴露指标与家庭中尼古丁浓度之间评估了Spearman相关系数以及敏感性，特异性和预测值。

结果

所有自我报告的SHS暴露指标与空气中尼古丁浓度呈中等程度的强烈相关（Spearman相关系数范围为0.58至0.65）。此外，自我报告的指标与家庭中尼古丁的存在之间的敏感性和阴性预测值低于66.4％，而特异性和阳性预测值则超过78.4％。“通常在家中吸烟的人数”显示出最佳结果（r _s = 0.65，p  <0.001；敏感性= 50.4％，特异性= 95.2％，PPV = 95.0，NPV = 51.3）。

结论

在这项研究中评估的自我报告的SHS指标显示出中等和强相关性，低敏感性和高特异性。其中，“在家中通常吸烟的人数”获得了最佳结果。