Passive smoking and risk of adult asthma and COPD: an update

[...]the report concluded that "adult nonsmokers exposed to ETS may have small reductions in lung function (approximately 2.5% lower mean FEV1)." [...]in the three major reviews of the health effects of passive smoking published in 1986 and 1992, respiratory symptoms and effects on lung function were the major non-malignant respiratory disease outcomes among adults for which reports were available. Conclusions The complexity of investigations of passive smoking as a risk factor for adult onset asthma and COPD may have contributed to the limited number of publications on these topics that have appeared since the comprehensive reviews on the health effects of involuntary smoking published in 1986 by the US Surgeon General and the National Research Council. Because there was no available literature on asthma or COPD in 1986, the conclusions of these reports were limited to the effects of passive smoking on chronic respiratory symptoms and on pulmonary function.