<< Secondhand Smoke Smoking causes death and disease among passive smokers. Regulatory measures and the intensity of enforcement, however, vary around the world. Of all public places, bars and nightclubs have the highest air levels of secondhand smoke, posing a serious health risk for bar and nightclub employees.
To assess exposure of bar and nightclub employees to secondhand smoke in 20 countries around the world.
We will select 10 bars and nightclubs and up to five employees per bar/nightclub in each country. First, we will assess time-weighted airborne nicotine concentrations in bars and nightclubs. Second, we will assess personal hair nicotine concentrations of nonsmoking and smoking bar and nightclub employees. Airborne and hair nicotine will be analyzed at the Exposure Assessment Facility/Center for Urban Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health by using gas chromatography with nitrogen selective detection. The relationship between airborne and hair nicotine concentrations, as well as the impact of smoking restrictions, smoking bans and ventilation measures in secondhand smoke concentrations, will be assessed by linear regression models with several levels of adjustment.
This study will generate locally relevant and worldwide comparable data to support progressive smoke-free policies and programs aimed at reducing secondhand smoke exposure of hospitality employees. | 
