Page 108 - TAIWAN TOBACCO CONTROL ANNUAL REPORT 2019

Further analysis and researches indicate that the indoor and outdoor public places where smokers smoke in front of others as expressed by people exposed to second-hand smoke are "outdoor access locations of roads, streets, arcades etc." (26.3%) ,"outside of restaurants, open-air restaurants, outdoor wedding ceremonies and funerals" (8.9%), "parks and landscape site" (7.4%), and "night markets, street vendors, open-air markets" (4.6%) in sequence. Home second-hand smoke exposure rate Most nicotine addicts smoke cigarettes at home before leaving for work and thereby expose their children and families to the toxics of second-hand and third-hand smoke. As a result of the enactment of amendments to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act in 2009 and the strict enforcement of smoking bans in public areas, smoking has been gradually confined to private spaces, which has increased exposure of families to second-hand smoke. In 2009, the home second-hand smoke exposure rate in the country reduced significantly from 35.2% in 2005 to 20.8%. However, the rate increased again to reach 21.1% in 2018. It still requires the common effort of the general public to reduce the exposure to second-hand smoke and safeguard the health of family members (including women and children). (Fig. 3-6) Fig. 3-6 Trend of home second-hand smoke exposure rate of adults 50 40 30 % 20 10 0 January 2009, new regulations of Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act Male 28.5 27.6 26.2 25.6 26.8 24.9 23.5 25.2 2014 2015 2016 Female 27.1 25.4 24.3 Overall 24.1 21.1 36.9 35 35.2 33 32.2 33.5 2005 2006 30.7 28.1 29.1 27.2 25.3 31 25.7 22.1 25.2 21.6 24.7 26.3 23.7 20.8 24.6 24.9 22.3 19.9 17.3 21.1 21.6 18.0 17.8 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2017 2018 Year 106 Note: 1. Source: Smoking-related information of the general public collected via telephone interviews conducted by the HPA for the "Adult Smoking Behavior Survey". 2. Definitions for second-hand smoke exposure at homes: The respondent has encountered someone smoking near them in their homes during the past week. 3. Questionnaire item: a. Questionnaire item from 2005 to 2008: "In the last week, do you recall anyone smoking near you when you were at your home?" If the answer to the above question was "I don't know" or "refused to answer", the answer shall be considered the missing data. b. Questionnaire item from 2009 to 2018: "In the last week, do you recall anyone smoking near you when you were at your home? (If you smell cigarette smoke, the answer will be a "Yes")." If the respondents gave the answer of "I don't know/ not sure","others", or "refused to answer", the answer will be considered the missing data. 4. Values were based upon the Taiwan region household census of 2000 carried out by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics (DGBAS). Weight adjustments and normalization were carried out according to gender, age, education background, and characteristics of the area of residence. Smoking cessation behavior Since the tobacco price increases year after year, a lot of smokers have tried to quit smoking. According to the investigation in 2018, 40% of smokers no longer smoke now (overall 42.0%, male 42.0%, female 41.2%), and the most important reasons of quitting smoke is the health concern (44.7%) for improving health, fear of illness, aging, pregnancy etc., and quiting smoling without reason (17.3%), and the subsequent concerns are family and peers (14.8%), and the concern on the overly high price of tobacco (8.9%). ()