Di Xinbo, Liu Shiwei, Xie Huiyu, Zeng Xinying, Meng Zida, Xiao Lin
Tobacco Control Office, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
Tob Induc Dis. 2022 Oct 19;20:89. doi: 10.18332/tid/152511. eCollection 2022.
Preventing youth from tobacco use is a priority for tobacco control in China, and the government has taken many measures such as introducing tobacco control in the health education curriculum, banning smoking in school, promoting smoke-free household, and advocacy campaigns. The objective of this study was to understand the availability and affordability of cigarettes for middle school (MS) and high school (HS) students in China.
The data were extracted from the 2019 China National Youth Tobacco Survey, which was a school-based cross-sectional survey with a nationally representative sample of 288192 MS and HS students. The survey employed a randomized multistage stratified cluster sampling design with probability proportional to size sampling method and used an anonymous self-administrated questionnaire to collect data. The availability and affordability of cigarettes were analyzed, and all parameter estimates were weighted to account for the complex sampling design.
In 2019, an estimated 80.5% of current smokers who were aged <18 years bought cigarettes in the past 30 days. Among them, 83.3% (83.0% of males and 85.2% of females; and 76.5% in MS and 87.6% in HS) had not been refused purchase of cigarettes because they were underage, with 84.1% in urban and 82.9% in rural areas, and 87.3% in central, 83.4% in eastern, and 80.5% in western regions of China. Among current smokers who bought cigarettes in the past 30 days, 77.3% had bought a pack of cigarettes (20 cigarettes) costing >10 RMB and at least 61.4% had more pocket money per week than the cost of a pack of cigarettes. Although 84.2% of current smokers bought cigarettes by the pack, 9.2% of current smokers reported that they bought cigarettes as sticks.
Although the youth smoking rate dropped down from 2014 to 2019, the proportion of youth smokers that bought cigarettes was still high in China. Due to the high amount of pocket money, the current cigarette price was not an effective price barrier to prevent youth smoking. Selling cigarettes by the stick worsens the situation. Strengthening the enforcement of the 2021 Law on the Protection of Minors, increasing tobacco taxes and prices, and forbidding the selling of cigarette sticks, might assist the progress in youth tobacco control.
防止青少年吸烟是中国烟草控制的一项重点工作，政府已采取诸多措施，如将控烟纳入健康教育课程、在学校禁烟、推广无烟家庭以及开展宣传活动。本研究的目的是了解中国初中生和高中生购买香烟的便利性及可承受性。
数据取自2019年中国全国青少年烟草调查，这是一项基于学校的横断面调查，对288192名初中生和高中生进行了具有全国代表性的抽样。该调查采用随机多阶段分层整群抽样设计，抽样方法与规模成比例，并使用匿名自填问卷收集数据。分析了香烟的可获得性和可承受性，所有参数估计值均进行了加权处理，以考虑复杂的抽样设计。
2019年，估计年龄<18岁的当前吸烟者中有80.5%在过去30天内购买过香烟。其中，83.3%（男性为83.0%，女性为85.2%；初中生中为76.5%，高中生中为87.6%）未因未成年而被拒绝购买香烟，城市地区为84.1%；农村地区为82.9%，中国中部地区为87.3%，东部地区为83.4%，西部地区为80.5%。在过去30天内购买过香烟的当前吸烟者中，77.3%购买过一包（20支）价格超过10元的香烟，且每周零花钱至少比一包香烟价格多的吸烟者占比至少为61.4%。尽管84.2%的当前吸烟者按包购买香烟，但9.2%的当前吸烟者报告称他们按支购买香烟。
尽管2014年至2019年青少年吸烟率有所下降，但中国购买香烟的青少年吸烟者比例仍然很高。由于零花钱数额较高，当前香烟价格并非防止青少年吸烟的有效价格障碍。按支销售香烟使情况更加恶化。加强2021年《未成年人保护法》的执法力度、提高烟草税和价格以及禁止销售单支香烟，可能有助于推进青少年烟草控制工作。
