Prevalence and concordance of smoking among mothers and fathers within the Pacific Islands Families Study.

Cigarette smoking continues to contribute to the adverse mortality and morbidity rates for Pacific people in New Zealand. Using a large cohort study of Pacific families, this paper investigates the prevalence of smoking amongst Pacific mothers and fathers over three time-points, up to six years after the arrival of their child, to determine the concordance of both partners' reports of that smoking. Moreover, the patterns of smoking between partners were investigated over the three major Pacific ethnicities that reside in New Zealand (Samoan, Tongan and Cook Island Māori). Maternal self-report prevalence of smoking estimates ranged from 29.8% (1-year) to 33.6% (6-years). Paternal self-reported prevalence of smoking estimates were higher, and ranged from 37.9% (2-years) to 45.2% (6-years). The prevalence estimates for smoking in both mothers and fathers over all three measurement waves were higher than the 26.9% reported for Pacific people in the 2006/07 New Zealand Health Survey. No significant change in fathers' smoking prevalence over time was observed (p = 0.37); however a significant increase in mothers' smoking prevalence over time was noted (p = 0.002). Significantly, for about 25% of Pacific children both their parents were current smokers. Reducing infant exposure to tobacco smoke, by encouraging parents to quit smoking or banning smoking in the home and local environment (such as vehicles), is likely to bring about improved health outcomes for many Pacific children. Findings suggest that the interaction between parents should be considered rather than focusing on mothers' or fathers' smoking behaviour in isolation.