Over 30% of people in Japan who live with smokers said they have been exposed to more secondhand smoke since the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic due to the rise of teleworking, the National Cancer Center Japan said Monday in releasing the results of a survey.
Among 1,000 smokers and the same number of nonsmokers surveyed in March, 33.7% of 258 nonsmoking respondents who live with smokers saw an increase in secondhand smoke exposure, the center said.
Kimiyasu Hirano, a researcher at the center, said the fact that people are spending more time at home raises "concerns about adverse health effects" for passive smokers, who are at risk of disease, disability and death.