Tobacco use and second-hand smoke exposure in young adolescents aged 12–15 years: data from 68 low-income and middle-income countries

Abstract

This work was partly supported by the Young Scholars Program of Shandong University (2015WLJH51), the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (ZR2012HQ033), and the National Natural Science Foundation (81302496).

Factors affecting cigarette smoking among adolescents in South Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand

“…Smoking prevalence among adolescents who reported parental smoking was higher in South Korea and Vietnam, whereas South Korean adolescents who reported that both parents smoked showed a higher likelihood to initiate cigarette smoking, compared to adolescents in other countries. This association between SHS in the home and adolescent smoking is comparable to those reported in the United States (Mays et al, ) and in 68 other countries (Xi et al, ). Adolescents with one parent who were daily or weekly smokers were more likely to experiment with smoking, and to become daily smokers like their parents.…”

Factors Affecting Secondhand Smoke Avoidance Behavior of Vietnamese Adolescents

“…It can be observed that relatively high rates of SHS are experienced by the rural Vietnamese participants in our study. Our result is also higher compared to the study with adolescents aged 12–15 in 68 low- and middle-income countries, which showed a total SHS rate of 55.9% [26]. …”

Young low and middle-income country (LMIC) smokers—implications for global tobacco control

“…The study by Xi et al (11) brings together some important information on adolescent tobacco use and second-hand smoke (SHS) exposure in LMICs. Data from two schoolbased surveys of 12-15-year-olds provide information on over 300,000 adolescents in 68 countries in six WHO regions.…”

“…In their analysis of LMIC data and the identification of concerning tobacco use rates among adolescents, particularly in the Western Pacific, Xi et al (11) highlight some of the key principles of tobacco control for adolescent populations. Many smokers start at a very young age (<11 years), high adolescent smoking rates are associated with high adult smoking rates and poor enforcement of standard tobacco control measures means that smoking rates in young people remain high.…”

“…Marketing strategies that target children [an indicator of how a country is performing against non-communicable disease (10)] should receive similar attention. It is worth noting that the question of e-cigarettes is not mentioned by Xi et al (11) and e-cigarettes do not figure in the GSHS survey questions (12). Given the recent meta-analysis confirming a three-fold increase in progression to smoking amongst young people who use e-cigarettes (20), future surveys should be expanded to include them in questioning.…”