Environmental tobacco smoke and deaths from coronary heart disease in Canada.

A series of recent meta-analyses have concluded that non-smokers who live with smokers face an elevated risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). In this study, we estimated the number of CHD deaths among non-smokers attributable to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure in their homes. Population-attributable risk estimates suggest that in 1997 over 800 Canadians died of CHD caused by passive exposure to ETS. This figure is likely an underestimation of the total number of CHD deaths attributable to ETS, since our study did not estimate the number of deaths among non-smokers caused by ETS exposure in the workplace. However, this partial picture can still help to highlight the burden of disease resulting from this pervasive involuntary environmental exposure.