Vrinten Charlotte, Parnham Jennie C, Filippidis Filippos T, Hopkinson Nicholas S, Laverty Anthony A
Public Health Policy Evaluation Unit, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
National Heart and Lung Institute, Royal Brompton Hospital, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
Tob Induc Dis. 2022 Oct 1;20:83. doi: 10.18332/tid/152321. eCollection 2022.
Most people who smoke initiate smoking in adolescence. Risk factors for smoking are changing over time as demographics shift, and technologies such as social media create new avenues for the tobacco industry to recruit smokers. We assessed risk factors associated with smoking uptake and regular smoking among a representative cohort of UK adolescents.
Data come from 8944 children followed prospectively as part of the UK Millennium Cohort Study. Smoking uptake was assessed as adolescents who had never smoked tobacco at the age of 14 years, but reported smoking ≥1 cigarette per week by the age of 17 years (regular smoking). We used logistic regression to assess associations between smoking uptake and selected sociodemographic factors including household income, caregiver smoking, peer smoking, and social media use. Weighted percentages and Office for National Statistics Data were used to estimate numbers of regular smokers and new smokers in the UK.
Among the whole sample, 10.6% of adolescents were regular smokers at the age of 17 years. Of these, 52% initiated smoking between the ages of 14 and 17 years. Uptake was more common if caregivers smoked (13.6% vs 5.0%, p<0.001) or friends smoked (12.6% vs 4.3%, p<0.001), and among those reporting >5 hours/day of social media use (9.8% vs 4.1%, p=0.006). Applying these percentages to population data, an estimated 160000 adolescents in the UK were regular smokers by the age of 17 years, of whom more than 100000 initiated smoking between the ages of 14 and 17 years.
This analysis of smoking uptake and regular smoking highlight that smoking behavior remains highly transmissible within families and peer groups, reinforcing inequalities. Social media are highlighted as a potential vector.
大多数吸烟者在青少年时期开始吸烟。随着人口结构的变化，吸烟的风险因素也在不断变化，社交媒体等技术为烟草行业招募吸烟者创造了新途径。我们评估了英国青少年代表性队列中与开始吸烟和经常吸烟相关的风险因素。
数据来自作为英国千禧队列研究一部分进行前瞻性跟踪的8944名儿童。开始吸烟的评估标准是，14岁时从未吸过烟草，但到17岁时报告每周吸烟≥1支（经常吸烟）。我们使用逻辑回归来评估开始吸烟与选定的社会人口学因素之间的关联，这些因素包括家庭收入、照顾者吸烟、同伴吸烟和社交媒体使用情况。加权百分比和英国国家统计局的数据用于估计英国经常吸烟者和新吸烟者的数量。
在整个样本中，10.6%的青少年在17岁时为经常吸烟者。其中，52%在14至17岁之间开始吸烟。如果照顾者吸烟（13.6%对5.0%，p<0.001）或朋友吸烟（12.6%对4.3%，p<0.001），以及报告每天使用社交媒体超过5小时的人群中（9.8%对4.1%，p=0.006），开始吸烟的情况更为常见。将这些百分比应用于人口数据，估计英国有160000名青少年在17岁时为经常吸烟者，其中超过100000人在14至17岁之间开始吸烟。
对开始吸烟和经常吸烟的分析表明，吸烟行为在家庭和同龄人群体中仍然具有高度传染性，加剧了不平等。社交媒体被视为一个潜在的传播途径。
