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Prevalence and Determinants of Susceptibility to Tobacco Smoking Among Students in The Gambia

INTRODUCTION: Smoking is the biggest preventable cause of death and kills about seven million people annually. As smoking prevalence is falling in developed countries, tobacco businesses are turning to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to generate new tobacco markets. To prevent young people...

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Autores principales: Jallow, Isatou K, Britton, John, Langley, Tessa
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6636176/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29931374
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ntr/nty128
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author Jallow, Isatou K
Britton, John
Langley, Tessa
author_facet Jallow, Isatou K
Britton, John
Langley, Tessa
author_sort Jallow, Isatou K
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Smoking is the biggest preventable cause of death and kills about seven million people annually. As smoking prevalence is falling in developed countries, tobacco businesses are turning to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to generate new tobacco markets. To prevent young people from initiating smoking and becoming regular smokers, it is important to understand the causes of susceptibility to smoking. In this study, we report a nationwide survey of the prevalence and risk factors of smoking susceptibility among students aged 12–20 years in The Gambia. METHODS: We used two-stage cluster random sampling to select students in secondary schools throughout The Gambia and questionnaire to collect data on demographic characteristics and indicators on susceptibility to initiating smoking. RESULTS: Among the total sample of 10289 students, 9831 (96%; 55.6% girls and 44.4% boys, aged 12–20 years) nonsmokers were included in the analysis. Of these, 3333 (33.9%) were found to be susceptible to smoking. Smoking susceptibility was more common among students attending grant-aided schools, non-Muslims, who had smoking allowed at home, had family members or friends who smoke, were sent to purchase cigarettes, had poor knowledge of the harmful effects of smoking, noticed point-of-sale tobacco advertisements, and who had positive attitudes towards smoking. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that susceptibility to smoking is common among students and associated with preventable exposures. Although based on cross-sectional data, these findings suggest that raising students’ awareness of the harmful effects of smoking and reducing the prevalence of adult smoking, extending tobacco advertising restrictions to include point-of-sale, are all important to preventing the uptake of smoking among students. IMPLICATIONS: This is the first study to provide detailed data on smoking susceptibility and risk factors in a nationally representative sample of young people in The Gambia. Our findings show that susceptibility to smoking is relatively high and associated with preventable measures. Our results also identify an urgent need to broaden the ban on tobacco advertising to explicitly include point-of-sale advertisements. These findings provide valuable information for tobacco control policies and evidence to enable targeted intervention for young people most at risk of initiating smoking.
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spelling pubmed-66361762019-07-23 Prevalence and Determinants of Susceptibility to Tobacco Smoking Among Students in The Gambia Jallow, Isatou K Britton, John Langley, Tessa Nicotine Tob Res Original Investigations INTRODUCTION: Smoking is the biggest preventable cause of death and kills about seven million people annually. As smoking prevalence is falling in developed countries, tobacco businesses are turning to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to generate new tobacco markets. To prevent young people from initiating smoking and becoming regular smokers, it is important to understand the causes of susceptibility to smoking. In this study, we report a nationwide survey of the prevalence and risk factors of smoking susceptibility among students aged 12–20 years in The Gambia. METHODS: We used two-stage cluster random sampling to select students in secondary schools throughout The Gambia and questionnaire to collect data on demographic characteristics and indicators on susceptibility to initiating smoking. RESULTS: Among the total sample of 10289 students, 9831 (96%; 55.6% girls and 44.4% boys, aged 12–20 years) nonsmokers were included in the analysis. Of these, 3333 (33.9%) were found to be susceptible to smoking. Smoking susceptibility was more common among students attending grant-aided schools, non-Muslims, who had smoking allowed at home, had family members or friends who smoke, were sent to purchase cigarettes, had poor knowledge of the harmful effects of smoking, noticed point-of-sale tobacco advertisements, and who had positive attitudes towards smoking. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that susceptibility to smoking is common among students and associated with preventable exposures. Although based on cross-sectional data, these findings suggest that raising students’ awareness of the harmful effects of smoking and reducing the prevalence of adult smoking, extending tobacco advertising restrictions to include point-of-sale, are all important to preventing the uptake of smoking among students. IMPLICATIONS: This is the first study to provide detailed data on smoking susceptibility and risk factors in a nationally representative sample of young people in The Gambia. Our findings show that susceptibility to smoking is relatively high and associated with preventable measures. Our results also identify an urgent need to broaden the ban on tobacco advertising to explicitly include point-of-sale advertisements. These findings provide valuable information for tobacco control policies and evidence to enable targeted intervention for young people most at risk of initiating smoking. Oxford University Press 2018-06-20 /pmc/articles/PMC6636176/ /pubmed/29931374 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ntr/nty128 Text en © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Investigations
Jallow, Isatou K
Britton, John
Langley, Tessa
Prevalence and Determinants of Susceptibility to Tobacco Smoking Among Students in The Gambia
title Prevalence and Determinants of Susceptibility to Tobacco Smoking Among Students in The Gambia
title_full Prevalence and Determinants of Susceptibility to Tobacco Smoking Among Students in The Gambia
title_fullStr Prevalence and Determinants of Susceptibility to Tobacco Smoking Among Students in The Gambia
title_full_unstemmed Prevalence and Determinants of Susceptibility to Tobacco Smoking Among Students in The Gambia
title_short Prevalence and Determinants of Susceptibility to Tobacco Smoking Among Students in The Gambia
title_sort prevalence and determinants of susceptibility to tobacco smoking among students in the gambia
topic Original Investigations
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6636176/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29931374
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ntr/nty128
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