TY - JOUR
T1 - Smoke-free Turkey
T2 - Evaluation of outdoor areas of public places
AU - Kaplan, Bekir
AU - Grau-Perez, Maria
AU - Çarkoglu, Asli
AU - Ergör, Gül
AU - Hayran, Mutlu
AU - Navas Acien, Ana
AU - Cohen, Joanna E.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health ( #119187 ) with funding from the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Authors
PY - 2019/8
Y1 - 2019/8
N2 - Significance: Secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS) exposure is a major cause of morbidity and mortality around the world. The objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of smoking in outdoor areas of public places in three largest Turkish cities (Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir). Method: For this cross-sectional observational study, the Turkish Statistical Institute randomly selected 10 sampling points in each city. Around each sampling point, fieldworkers visited the closest bars/nightclubs, cafes, government buildings, hospitals, restaurants, schools, shopping malls, traditional coffee houses, universities, children's playgrounds, parks and open markets. We observed smoking, ashtrays, and cigarette butts at the outdoor areas of public venues within the urban districts of each city. The fieldwork was conducted in April–May 2016. Results: 477 venues were observed, covering 1017 outdoor locations in which 17,737 people were observed. Smoking in outdoor areas ranged from 3.7% around schools to 90% in open markets. Ashtrays were almost ubiquitous in hospitals (95.6%), shopping malls (92.0%), and universities (90.9%). Cigarette butts were more often observed in open markets (100%), shopping malls (96%), universities (95.5%), and parks (93.3%). Smoking at outdoor areas around schools was significantly lower than around other venues. Conclusion: Smoking in outdoor areas was common in most public places in Turkey except schools. The current indoor SHS legislation should be extended to cover adjacent outdoor areas of public venues in order to effectively protect people from SHS exposure in Turkey.
AB - Significance: Secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS) exposure is a major cause of morbidity and mortality around the world. The objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of smoking in outdoor areas of public places in three largest Turkish cities (Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir). Method: For this cross-sectional observational study, the Turkish Statistical Institute randomly selected 10 sampling points in each city. Around each sampling point, fieldworkers visited the closest bars/nightclubs, cafes, government buildings, hospitals, restaurants, schools, shopping malls, traditional coffee houses, universities, children's playgrounds, parks and open markets. We observed smoking, ashtrays, and cigarette butts at the outdoor areas of public venues within the urban districts of each city. The fieldwork was conducted in April–May 2016. Results: 477 venues were observed, covering 1017 outdoor locations in which 17,737 people were observed. Smoking in outdoor areas ranged from 3.7% around schools to 90% in open markets. Ashtrays were almost ubiquitous in hospitals (95.6%), shopping malls (92.0%), and universities (90.9%). Cigarette butts were more often observed in open markets (100%), shopping malls (96%), universities (95.5%), and parks (93.3%). Smoking at outdoor areas around schools was significantly lower than around other venues. Conclusion: Smoking in outdoor areas was common in most public places in Turkey except schools. The current indoor SHS legislation should be extended to cover adjacent outdoor areas of public venues in order to effectively protect people from SHS exposure in Turkey.
KW - Outdoor secondhand smoke
KW - Turkey
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U2 - 10.1016/j.envres.2019.05.003
DO - 10.1016/j.envres.2019.05.003
M3 - Article
C2 - 31108355
AN - SCOPUS:85065745338
VL - 175
SP - 79
EP - 83
JO - Environmental Research
JF - Environmental Research
SN - 0013-9351
ER -