Comment on 'Second-Hand Smoking among Intermediate and Secondary School Students in Madinah, Saudi Arabia'

摘要

I read the article titled "Second-Hand Smoking among Intermediate and Secondary School Students in Madinah, Saudi Arabia" by Al-Zalabani et al. [1]>with curiosity. Authors' efforts are admirable. This study provides valuable information for the evidence based fine tuning of present smoking legislation in the study area. However, the following issues and concerns need to be addressed. Knowledge about harmful effects of smoking from family or school (yes versus no) and belief in the negative effects of second-hand smoking (yes versus no) have been considered as independent variables in this study. What questions were asked and which criteria were used to classify the study participant as "knowledgeable about the harmful effects smoking" and "believer in negative effects of second-hand smoking"? This should have been explicitly mentioned to avoid ambiguity.