Deaths caused by secondhand smoke: estimates are consistent

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Abstract
Hill et al compared mortality among New Zealand never smokers living with cigarette smokers with that of never smokers in non-smoking households.2 They report adjusted mortality rate ratios for 45–74 year olds from two periods: 1981–4 and 1996–9. For men the ratios were 1.17 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05 to 1.30) and 1.16 (95% CI 1.04 to 1.30) respectively; for women 1.06 (95% CI 0.97 to 1.16) and 1.28 (95% CI 1.16 to 1.42). Assuming a rate ratio of 1.15 constant over age and sex, and applying this to 1996 census counts of never smokers living in households with at least one smoker (approximately 55 340 adults), we estimate that passive smoking accounts for 73.5 deaths per year in the 45–74 year age group.