Owen N, Kent P, Wakefield M, Roberts L
Department of Community Medicine, University of Adelaide, Australia.
Prev Med. 1995 Jan;24(1):80-4. doi: 10.1006/pmed.1995.1011.
Some smokers maintain a low daily smoking rate and do not appear to be addicted to nicotine (tobacco "chippers"). In a context of increasing social and environmental constraints on cigarette smoking, it is of interest to determine the population prevalence and the characteristics of low-rate smoking behavior.
A representative population survey was used to determine the prevalence and the correlates of low-rate smoking (five or less cigarettes a day). A range of sociodemographic, contextual, cognitive, and smoking-behavior variables was examined.
Of 697 smokers age 20 years and over who had smoked for more than 2 years, 8.2% smoked five or less cigarettes a day; their average age was 39 years, and half were under 35 years of age; 88% had been smoking for 6 or more years; 86% were in the contemplation or preparation stages of readiness to quit. The significant independent predictors of being a low-rate smoker, compared to smoking at a higher daily rate, were perceiving quitting as not very difficult, smoking the first cigarette of the day more than 30 min after walking, buying packets of 30 or less cigarettes, and having not been advised by a doctor to quit.
There were few differences between low-rate and other smokers on the range of variables that we were able to assess in a population survey. Since there is no safe level of cigarette smoking, medical advice to quit and public-education campaigns could target low-rate smokers specifically. Such initiatives could make significant contributions to reducing overall smoking prevalence.
一些吸烟者保持较低的每日吸烟量，似乎并未对尼古丁上瘾（烟草“少量吸烟者”）。在社会和环境对吸烟的限制日益增加的背景下，确定低量吸烟行为的人群患病率及其特征很有意义。
采用具有代表性的人群调查来确定低量吸烟（每天吸五支或更少香烟）的患病率及其相关因素。研究了一系列社会人口统计学、环境、认知和吸烟行为变量。
在697名年龄在20岁及以上且吸烟超过2年的吸烟者中，8.2%的人每天吸五支或更少香烟；他们的平均年龄为39岁，其中一半年龄在35岁以下；88%的人吸烟已达6年或更长时间；86%的人处于考虑戒烟或准备戒烟阶段。与每日吸烟量较高的吸烟者相比，成为低量吸烟者的显著独立预测因素包括：认为戒烟不太困难、在起床后30分钟以上才吸第一支烟、购买30支或更少包装的香烟以及未被医生建议戒烟。
在我们能够在人群调查中评估的变量范围内，低量吸烟者与其他吸烟者之间几乎没有差异。由于不存在安全的吸烟水平，戒烟的医学建议和公众教育活动可以特别针对低量吸烟者。此类举措可为降低总体吸烟率做出重大贡献。
