Does one cigarette make an adolescent smoker, and is it influenced by age and age of smoking initiation? Evidence of association from the U.S. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (2011)

Menée en 2011 à partir d'une enquête auprès de 15 425 lycéens, cette étude américaine analyse, en fonction du sexe et de l'appartenance ethnique, la relation entre l'initiation tabagique, l'âge de la première cigarette et le risque de tabagisme régulier

Résumé en anglais

Objectives : Evidence that age of smoking initiation represents a risk factor for regular smoking in adolescence is complicated by inconsistencies in the operational definition of smoking initiation and simultaneous inclusion of age as an explanatory variable. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between age, age of smoking initiation and subsequent regular smoking.

Methods : A secondary analysis was conducted by the U.S. Youth Risk Behavior Survey 2011. A sex stratified multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to model the likelihood of regular smoking with age and age of smoking initiation as explanatory variables and race/ethnicity as a covariate.

Results : After controlling for race/ethnicity, age and age of smoking initiation were independently associated with regular smoking in males and females. Independent of age, a one year's decrease in the age of smoking initiation was associated with a 1.27 times increase in odds of regular smoking in females (95% CI: 1.192–1.348); and similar associations for males (OR: 1.28; 95% CI: 1.216–1.341).

Conclusion : While the majority of high school students do not become regular smokers after initiating smoking, earlier initiation of smoking is associated with subsequent regular smoking irrespective of sex or race/ethnicity. These findings have potentially important implications for intervention targeting.