A randomised controlled trial of a complex intervention to reduce children's exposure to secondhand smoke in the home.

OBJECTIVES: Exposing children to secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS) causes significant harm and occurs predominantly through smoking by caregivers in the family home. We report a trial of a complex intervention designed to reduce secondhand smoke exposure of children whose primary caregiver feels unable or unwilling to quit smoking.

DESIGN: An open-label, parallel, randomised controlled trial.

SETTING: Deprived communities in Nottingham City and County, England PARTICIPANTS: Caregivers resident in Nottingham City and County in England who were at least 18 years old, the main caregiver of a child aged under 5 years living in their household, and reported that they were smoking tobacco inside their home.

INTERVENTIONS: We compared a complex intervention combining personalised feedback on home air quality, behavioural support and nicotine replacement therapy for temporary abstinence with usual care.

MAIN OUTCOMES: The primary outcome was change in air quality in the home, measured as average 16-24  hours levels of particulate matter of  < 2.5  µm diameter (PM2.5 ), between baseline and 12 weeks. Secondary outcomes included changes in maximum PM2.5 , proportion of time PM2.5 exceeded WHO recommended levels of maximum exposure of 25  µg/mg3 , child salivary cotinine, caregivers' cigarette consumption, nicotine dependence, determination to stop smoking, quit attempts and quitting altogether during the intervention.

RESULTS: Arithmetic mean PM2.5 decreased significantly more (by 35.2 %; 95%  CI 12.7% to 51.9 %) in intervention than in usual care households, as did the proportion of time PM2.5 exceeded 25  µg/mg3 , child salivary cotinine concentrations, caregivers' cigarette consumption in the home, nicotine dependence, determination to quit and likelihood of having made a quit attempt.

CONCLUSIONS: By reducing exposure to SHS in the homes of children who live with smokers unable or unwilling to quit, this intervention offers huge potential to reduce children's' tobacco-related harm.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN81701383.This trial was funded by the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR): RP-PG-0608-10020.