Children, smoking households and exposure to second-hand smoke in the home in rural Australia: analysis of a national cross-sectional survey

OBJECTIVES: This paper aimed to explore the association between rurality and (1) household smoking status and (2) home second-hand smoke exposure, in households with children aged 0–14 years. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Households across Australia. PARTICIPANTS: Households across the country were randomly selected to provide a nationally representative sample. Respondents were persons aged 12 years or older in each household who were next going to celebrate their birthday. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Household smoking status and smoking inside the home. METHODOLOGY: The 2010 Australian National Drug Strategy Household survey data were analysed to explore the prevalence of household smoking and home second-hand smoke exposure in rural and urban households with children. Multivariable logistic regression was used to explore the association of rurality with household smoking and with home second-hand smoke exposure, controlling for potential confounders. RESULTS: Households with children were more likely to be smoking households (35.4%, 95% CI 34.2% to 36.5%) than households without children (32.1%, 95% CI 31.3% to 32.8%). Both household smoking (43.6% (95% CI 41.5% to 45.7%) vs 31.4% (95% CI 30.0% to 32.8%)) and home second-hand smoke exposure (8.0% (95% CI 6.8% to 9.1%) vs 5.2% (95% CI 4.5% to 5.8%)) were significantly more common for rural children. In multivariate analyses controlling for confounding factors, rurality remained associated with smoking households (OR 1.21, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.37), whereas it did not remain associated with children's home second-hand smoke exposure (OR 1.07, 95% CI 0.85 to 1.35). Larger household size, low socioeconomic status and being a single-parent household were the main drivers of home second-hand smoke exposure. CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of smoking households with children, and the number of children regularly exposed to second-hand smoke in their homes remain important public health concerns. Smoking cessation support and tobacco control policies might benefit from targeting larger and/or socioeconomically disadvantaged households including single-parent households.