Cigarette smoking among spouses: another risk factor for stroke in women.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: It is well known that passive exposure to cigarette smoking increases the risk of coronary events, but the effect on the risk of stroke is not well defined. We performed this study to determine the effect of cigarette smoking among spouses on the risk of developing stroke and ischemic stroke among a nationally representative sample of women. METHODS: We examined the association between history of smoking among spouses with the incidence of stroke in a national cohort of 5379 women who participated in the First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Epidemiologic Follow-Up Study. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up of 8.5 years, the risk was significantly increased for all strokes (relative risk, 5.7; 95% CI, 1.4 to 24) and ischemic stroke (relative risk, 4.8; 95% CI, 1.2 to 20) among cigarette-smoking women with a cigarette-smoking spouse compared with those with a nonsmoking spouse after adjusting for other cardiovascular risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: The study provides new evidence linking spousal smoking to stroke.