Global Prevalence of Tobacco Use in Adolescents and Its Adverse Oral Health Consequences

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Smoking is associated with various systemic conditions and contributes to a huge financial burden to economies around the world.
 AIM: The study aimed to evaluate global data about the prevalence of tobacco use among male and female adolescents and to discuss smoking-related oral complications.
 METHODS: The prevalence data of tobacco use among adolescents (13-15 years) was retrieved from the World Health Organization (Global Health Observatory). The World Bank’s statistics about gross national income (GNI) per capita were used to categorise low-income, lower-middle-income, upper-middle-income, and high-income countries. PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Embase databases were searched to gather updated evidence about the adverse consequences of smoking on oral health among adolescents.
 RESULTS: The prevalence of tobacco use was 19.33%, and there were 23.29% of male and 15.35% female smoker adolescents in 133 countries (p < 0.001). The highest prevalence of tobacco use in male (24.76%) and female (19.4) adolescents was found in high-income countries. Significantly higher proportions of male adolescents were smokers than female counterparts in low-income, lower-middle-income, and upper-middle-income (p < 0.001). However, there were no statistically significant differences in tobacco use between male and female adolescents in high-income countries. Low-income countries had the lowest prevalence (14.95%) of tobacco use, while high-income countries had the highest prevalence estimates (22.08). Gingivitis (72.8%), gingival bleeding (51.2%), oral malodor or halitosis (39.6%) is common oral conditions among smoker adolescents. Smoking habit is significantly associated with dental caries, periodontal disease, hairy tongue, smoking-related melanosis, and hyperkeratosis among adolescents.
 CONCLUSION: There was a high prevalence of tobacco use among male and female adolescents around the globe. Available evidence suggests a strong association between smoking and compromised oral health among adolescents. Globally, measures should be taken to prevent and control the menace of tobacco use to reduce systemic and oral complications.

Awareness of Smoking as a Risk Factor for Bladder Cancer in Taif City

“…When we analyzed the source of this information about the awareness of these relationships, it was found that social media or the Internet was the most common source (31.5%), followed by information from doctors or other health professionals (27.2%), from school or college (21.6%), television (6.5%) from personal experience (6%), journal or magazines or medical textbooks (4.7%) (Figure 1). The prevalence of smoking has dramatically increased worldwide despite the efforts to combat its use through various risk awareness strategies and tobacco control policies (Gowing et al, 2015;Nazir et al, 2019). In Saudi Arabia, reports from two national surveys conducted in the year 2013 (Moradi-Lakeh et al, 2015) and 2018 (Algabbani et al, 2018) have shown that the prevalence of tobacco smoking is found to be 12.2% and 21.4%, respectively, which is alarming and has become a serious public health concern.…”

“…The second most common urologic malignancy worldwide is bladder cancer, mainly transitional cell carcinoma, but it is the seventh most common malignancy in men and the seventeenth in women (Nazir et al, 2019;Algarni et al, 2020;Almehmadi et al, 2020). There are two main bladder cancers: the squamous cell carcinomas (SCC), which are more frequently seen in some Middle Eastern and African countries, where urinary schistosomiasis is an endemic disease and the transitional cell carcinomas (TCC), which is related to cigarette smoking and is most prevalent in Western and industrialized countries.…”

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“…As adolescent smoking prevalence rises globally, national and global-level research is necessary to determine patterns and variables and develop intervention programs to curb its adverse consequences [1]. According to the centre for disease control analysed global youth tobacco survey (GYTS) data in 61 countries, the median of current smoking prevalence among adolescents aged 13 to 15 was 10.9%, with Sri Lanka and Timor Leste reporting the lowest (1.7%) and highest (35.0%), respectively [2].…”

24-h Movement Guidelines and Substance Use among Adolescents: A School-Based Cross-Sectional Study

“…It is associated with a higher risk of several cancers, respiratory diseases, heart disease, and strokes. A recent study using World Health Organization data on tobacco use among adolescents aged 13–15 years documented a prevalence of tobacco use of 19.3% [ 3 ]. Alcohol is the most commonly consumed substance by adolescents [ 4 ], and it has several adverse health effects, including loss of coordination, memory loss, and liver damage.…”