BackgroundSmoking is initiated mostly by adolescents and young adults. In Slovenia, we have limited data about this. The purpose of this paper is to show data on age at smoking initiation and differences in age at smoking initiation by gender, age groups, education, social class and geographical region among inhabitants of Slovenia.MethodsWe used data from the cross-sectional survey ‘Health-related behaviour 2012’ in Slovenian population aged from 25 to 74 years.Results4591 ever smokers, aged 25–74, that gave information about the age at smoking initiation were included in the analysis. At the age of 25 or less, smoking was initiated by 96.7% of Slovene ever smokers, at the age of 18 or less by 71.0%. The average age at smoking initiation was 17.7 years. Male ever smokers initiated smoking at an earlier age compared to female ones. Age at smoking initiation was decreasing in both male and female ever smokers, but was more pronounced in females. In male ever smokers, there were no differences in average smoking initiation age by education, self-reported social class and geographical regions, while in female ever smokers, there were significant differences in terms of education and geographical regions.ConclusionThe initiation of smoking predominantly occurs in adolescents and young adults. Age at smoking initiation has decreased in recent decades. Our study confirms the importance of early and sustained smoking prevention programmes in youth and the importance of national comprehensive tobacco control programme with effective tobacco control measures to ban tobacco products marketing.
The health care system in Slovenia (Fig. 1) escaped the turmoil that characterized most Central and Eastern European countries upon the transition from a one-party system to a democracy. With a per-capita GDP of 32,000 euros ($36,400), of which 2430 euros ($2775) are spent on health care and a population of 2.1 million, the country struggles to maintain free health care for all its citizens. Because of scarce resources, medical procedures of a lesser priority are often paid out of pocket and waiting times for some diagnostic and therapeutic procedures are unavoidable; however, cancer care is fully covered by the National Health Care Insurance system. Since 1950, when the reporting of all cases of cancer became mandatory, the Cancer Registry of Slovenia has been collecting data on cancer incidence and survival. Lung cancer was the most common cancer in males until the beginning of this century, when it was overtaken by prostate cancer. After decades of increasing incidence for both sexes, at the beginning of the 1990s, the curve of the incidence for males became stable at around 90 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants. In contrast, the lung cancer incidence rate in the Slovenian female population continues to rise, with a 4.2% annual percentage growth for the previous decade. Lung cancer is now the fourth most common cancer in females, with a crude incidence rate of around 45 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants. 1 Dividing the incidence according to age groups reveals a decrease in the incidence in younger males along with a constant rise in the incidence for females in all age groups (Fig. 2). The different time trends in lung cancer incidence in males and females closely reflect the pattern of smoking. Among males, smoking was most prevalent in generations born between 1920 and 1935, then decreased, but again became more common in those born after 1950. Smoking among females started to increase in the baby boom generation born after the Second World War. Between the years 1976 and 2014, the prevalence of smoking among adult men decreased from 48.0% to 28.3%. In the same period, the prevalence of smoking among adult women increased from 15.6% to 21.3%.
INTRODUCTION Electronic cigarettes (ECs) have generated extensive discussion about their role in smoking cessation. The Slovenia National Institute of Public Health's recommendations state that ECs are not to be recommended for smoking cessation or reduction. The aim of this study was to explore how healthcare professionals working in the field of preventive healthcare and smoking cessation in Slovenia communicate with and counsel patients regarding electronic cigarettes and smoking cessation or reduction. METHODS A cross-sectional, web-based survey was conducted among healthcare professionals working in the field of preventive healthcare and smoking cessation in Slovenia. A total of 479 healthcare professionals were included in the analysis. RESULTS While a minority of participants (12.7%) do or would recommend electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation or reduction in general, a higher proportion of participants (33.1%) would recommend electronic cigarettes to specific groups of patients. Knowledge on electronic cigarettes was the key determinant of differences in recommendations. Only a minority of participants (9.1%) reported availability of workplace guidelines/recommendations regarding counselling about electronic cigarettes. CONCLUSIONS Training programmes, educational materials and existing guidelines/ recommendations regarding counselling about electronic cigarette use should be provided and distributed among healthcare professionals, together with efforts to ensure compliance to official guidelines/recommendations.
BackgroundDifferent tobacco and related products, like waterpipe, e-cigarettes, are gaining popularity among adolescents in different countries; the data for Slovenia is currently limited. The purpose of this paper is to present the latest data on the use of different tobacco and related products, with or without flavours, among 15-year old students in Slovenia.MethodsData for 15-year-old students were drawn from 2014 Slovene database of the cross-national survey Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children. The survey sample was selected with stratified two-stage sampling method. The survey was performed in schools with a self-administered web questionnaire. The survey questionnaire included international compulsory, selected optional and national questions, all on a variety of topics related to youth health behaviour.Results25.2% of 15-year-old students reported current (past 30-day) use of any tobacco related product, mainly cigarettes (93.1% of users), followed by waterpipe (11.7%) and cigars, cigarillos and pipes (9.4%). Exclusive use of unconventional products is low (5.1% of users). 85.5% of users of any product used one product, 48.5% of users used products with flavours. The use of different products, one or more products, and flavoured products was related to gender.ConclusionA comprehensive tobacco control and prevention must address all tobacco and related products.
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