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Children are hooked on tobacco after smoking just one cigarette
Categories:
· Tobacco control
· Teen smoking
International:
· Worldwide
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Source:ERATHtimes.org,2006-05-27
Author:Darya Zarin |
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Children who smoke just one or two cigarettes in their childhood are more likely to be hooked to the habit later on in life, according to a new study by researchers at the University College London. The study, which is to appear in the July issue of Tobacco Control, says that this effect is a "sleeper effect" and is responsible for doubling the risk of children becoming regular smokers.
"Although it is known that past smoking behavior is associated with future smoking, this is the first time that a period of 'dormant vulnerability' has been shown, whereby smoking a single cigarette can leave children susceptible to smoking uptake for several years," said lead researcher Jennifer Fidler.
The current study analyzed 5,863 children aged 11 to 16 years old. All children had participated in annual surveys. Researchers had the data on salivary cotinine, which is a marker indicating nicotine intake. Overall they had access to the smoking data of 35 percent of the children. The researchers found that by the age of 14, children who had just smoked one cigarette by their 11th year were twice as likely to have become regular smokers than those who had not smoked at 11.
These findings held true irrespective of gender, ethnicity and economic status. "Preventing children from trying even one cigarette may therefore appear an important goal," Fidler said. "Another implication is that health-care providers and those designing interventions should not ignore adolescents who appear to be long-term nonsmokers but had tried smoking once several years ago."
The researchers said that the intervening period during which children abstained from smoking after their first try ""may be termed a 'sleeper effect,' a personal propensity or vulnerability to smoke that may not become manifest without additional triggers." |
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