PMID: identifier of
Pubmed reference: |
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 (20163736)  |
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| title: |
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Determinants of smoking initiation among women in five European countries: a cross-sectional survey. |
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| author(s): |
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Debora Oh1, 2, Julia Heck1, Carolyn Dresler3, Shane Allwright4, Margaretha Haglund5, Sara Del Mazo6, Eva Kralikova7, 8, Isabelle Stücker9, Elizabeth Tamang10, Ellen Gritz11, Mia Hashibe ( ) 1, 12 |
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| laboratory: |
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| 1: |
IACR - International Agency for Cancer Research |
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| http://www.iarc.fr/ |
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| International Agency for Cancer Research, |
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| 150 Cours Albert Thomas, 69372 Lyon CEDEX 08 |
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| France |
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| 2: |
Department of Epidemiology |
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| University of California Los Angeles – Department of Epidemiology – School of public health |
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| Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772 California, USA |
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| United States |
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| 3: |
Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program |
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| Arkansas Department of Health |
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| Little Rock, Arkansas, USA |
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| United States |
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| 4: |
Department of Public Health and Primary Care |
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| Trinity College Dublin |
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| Republic of Ireland |
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| Ireland |
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| 5: |
Tobacco Control |
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| National Institute of Public Health |
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| Östersund, Sweden |
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| Sweden |
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| 6: |
Health Professionals Against Tobacco |
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| Health Professionals Against Tobacco |
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| S-10264 Stockholm, Sweden |
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| Sweden |
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| 7: |
Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology |
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| First Faculty of Medicine – Charles University and General University Hospital |
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| Prague, Czech Republic |
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| Czech Republic |
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| 8: |
3rd Medical Department - Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism |
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| First Faculty of Medicine – Charles University and General University Hospital |
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| Prague, Czech Republic |
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| Czech Republic |
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| 9: |
Epidémiologie environnementale des cancers |
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| http://ifr69.vjf.inserm.fr/u754/ |
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| INSERM : IFR69 – Université Paris XI - Paris Sud |
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| 16, Avenue Paul Vaillant-Couturier 94807 VILLEJUIF CEDEX |
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| France |
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| 10: |
Regione del Veneto - Direzione Prevenzione |
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| Servizio di Sanità Pubblica e Screening |
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| Venezia, Italy |
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| Italy |
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| 11: |
Department of Behavioral Science |
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| The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
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| Houston, Texas, USA |
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| United States |
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| 12: |
Division of Public Health |
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| Department of Family & Preventive Medicine – University of Utah School of Medicine |
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| Salt Lake City, Utah, USA |
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| United States |
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| abstract: |
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BACKGROUND: The rate of smoking and lung cancer among women is rising in Europe. The primary aim of this study was to determine why women begin smoking in five different European countries at different stages of the tobacco epidemic and to determine if smoking is associated with certain characteristics and/or beliefs about smoking. METHODS: A cross-sectional telephone survey on knowledge and beliefs about tobacco was conducted as part of the Women in Europe Against Lung Cancer and Smoking (WELAS) Project. A total of 5,000 adult women from France, Ireland, Italy, Czech Republic, and Sweden were interviewed, with 1,000 from each participating country. All participants were asked questions about demographics, knowledge and beliefs about smoking, and their tobacco use background. Current and former smokers also were asked questions about smoking initiation. Basic statistics on the cross-sectional data was reported with chi-squared and ANOVA p-values. Logistic regression was used to analyze ever versus never smokers. Linear regression analyses were used to analyze age of smoking initiation. RESULTS: Being older, being divorced, having friends/family who smoke, and having parents who smoke were all significantly associated with ever smoking, though the strength of the associations varied by country. The most frequently reported reason for initiation smoking was friend smoking, with 62.3% of ever smokers reporting friends as one of the reasons why they began smoking. Mean age of smoking initiation was 18.2 years and over 80% of participants started smoking by the age of 20. The highest levels of young initiators were in Sweden with 29.3% of women initiating smoking at age 14-15 and 12.0% initiating smoking younger than age 14. The lowest level of young initiators was in the Czech Republic with 13.7% of women initiating smoking at age 14-15 and 1.4% of women initiating smoking younger than age 14. Women who started smoking because their friends smoked or to look 'cool' were more likely to start smoking at a younger age. Women who started smoking to manage stress or to feel less depressed were more likely to start smoking at an older age. CONCLUSIONS: In all five participating countries, friends were the primary factor influencing ever smoking, especially among younger women. The majority of participants began smoking in adolescence and the average reported age of smoking initiation was youngest in Sweden and oldest in the Czech Republic. |
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| subject: |
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Life Sciences/Health Care Sciences and Epidemiology
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| fulltext language: |
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English |
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| ISSN: |
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1471-2458 |
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| publication format: |
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Article in peer-reviewed journal |
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| DOI: |
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10.1186/1471-2458-10-74 |
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| journal: |
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| BMC Public Health (BMC Public Health) |
| Publisher |
BioMed Central |
| ISSN |
1471-2458 |
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| Audience: |
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international |
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| publication date: |
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2010 |
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| submission date: |
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2010-02-17 |
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| volume: |
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10 |
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| issue: |
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1 |
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| page, identifiant, ...: |
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74 |
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| MeSH Descriptor(s): |
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Adolescent – Adult – Age Factors – Child – Cross-Sectional Studies – Europe – Female – Friends – Health Surveys – Humans – Interviews as Topic – Middle Aged – Peer Group – Prevalence – Sampling Studies – Smoking – Social Support – Women's Health – Young Adult |
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| contract, financing: |
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This publication arises from the project Women in Europe Against Lung Cancer and Smoking (WELAS) which has received funding from the European Union, in the framework of the Public Health Programme. Debora L Oh worked on this project under the tenure of a special training award from the International Agency for Research on Cancer. |
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