PEDIATRICS Vol. 111 No. 5 May 2003, pp. e562-e568
ELECTRONIC ARTICLE |
Smoking Patterns Among Adolescents With Asthma Attending Upper Secondary Schools: A Community-Based Study
From the National Institute of Public Health, Copenhagen, Denmark
--> Objective. Smoking among people who have asthma may be a serious health problem. We studied the prevalence of smoking and the relations between smoking and asthma, symptoms, medicine, and gender differences among adolescents with asthma.
Methods. A national cross-sectional study on health and lifestyles was performed in 1996–1997 using a computerized questionnaire in upper secondary schools in Denmark. We included 1887 pupils with asthma (defined as self-reported asthma diagnosed by a physician) and 20 688 controls. Smoking was categorized as daily, occasional, ex-smokers, and never smoked. We adjusted for age, gender, parents’ job and smoking, family type, body mass index, and exercise habits.
Results. In total, 37.7% smoked currently and 16.5% smoked daily; more girls than boys smoked. More pupils with asthma than without smoked daily (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 1.15; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.04–1.33), they smoked significantly more cigarettes daily (10.3 vs 9.6), and more were heavy smokers (
15 cigarettes daily; adjusted OR: 1.47; 95% CI:1.14–1.91). Furthermore, nearly twice as many pupils who had asthma with symptoms but were not using medicine smoked as pupils who had asthma without symptoms and were using medicine (adjusted OR: 1.84; 95% CI: 0.99–3.41). More boys with asthma than without started smoking before 14 years of age (adjusted OR: 1.75; 95% CI: 1.09–2.81). However, more pupils with asthma had tried to quit (adjusted OR: 1.26; 95% CI: 0.99–1.60). Pupils with and without asthma were occasional smokers and ex-smokers at a similar prevalence.
Conclusions. More pupils with asthma than without smoked daily, and they also smoked more cigarettes per day. This is a major health concern, as adolescents have a high smoking prevalence in Denmark.
Key Words: asthma • adolescents • smoking prevalence • smoking pattern
Abbreviations: OR, odds ratio • CI, confidence interval
Received for publication Feb 19, 2002; Accepted Dec 23, 2002.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Facebook 
Reddit 
Technorati 
Twitter What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  M. O. M. Van De Ven, R. C. M. E. Engels, and S. M. Sawyer Asthma-specific Predictors of Smoking Onset in Adolescents with Asthma: A Longitudinal Study J. Pediatr. Psychol., March 1, 2009; 34(2): 118 - 128. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. Hublet, D. De Bacquer, W. Boyce, E. Godeau, H. Schmid, C. Vereecken, F. De Baets, and L. Maes Smoking in young people with asthma J. Public Health Med., December 1, 2007; 29(4): 343 - 349. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 C. Bancej, J. O'Loughlin, R. W Platt, G. Paradis, and A. Gervais Smoking cessation attempts among adolescent smokers: a systematic review of prevalence studies Tob. Control, December 1, 2007; 16(6): e8 - e8. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 B. G. Bender Risk Taking, Depression, Adherence, and Symptom Control in Adolescents and Young Adults with Asthma Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., May 1, 2006; 173(9): 953 - 957. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
E. H. Bel Smoking: A Neglected Cause of Glucocorticoid Resistance in Asthma Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., December 1, 2003; 168(11): 1265 - 1266. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
