The national prevalence of households with a rule against smoking indoors and at least one adult smoker increased nearly fivefold from 1992 to 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Sept. 4.
Washington had the highest rate of smokers forced to go outside in 2010-2011, with 70.2% of households with at least one adult smoker staying smoke free. Utah was second at 68.4%, and California was third at 67.9%. West Virginia reported the lowest rate of smoke-free households that had at least one adult smoker, with only 27.2% staying smoke free in 2010-2011. Kentucky was next with a reported rate of 29.3%, and Indiana was next with 31.4% (MMWR 2014;63:765-9).
The national rate of smoke-free households with at least one adult smoker was 46.1% in 2010-2011, compared with 9.6% in 1992-1993. For all households, 83% were smoke free in 2010-2011, compared with 43% in 1992-1993. The smoke-free home rate for households without an adult smoker was 91.4% in 2010-2011, up from 56.7% in 1992-1993, according to the CDC.
Although progress has been made on keeping homes smoke free, approximately 88 million U.S. residents 3 years or older were exposed to secondhand smoke during 2007-2008, the CDC investigators said.
The analysis was based on data from the Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey.
