Premium
CIGARETTE SMOKING IN SYDNEY SCHOOLCHILDREN AGED 12 TO 13 YEARS
Author(s) -
Leeder S. R.,
Woolcock A. J.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1973.tb129700.x
Subject(s) - medicine , cigarette smoking , incidence (geometry) , demography , lung function , disease , smoke , pediatrics , environmental health , lung , physics , sociology , optics , meteorology
The cigarette smoking habits of over 6,000 children in the first form of secondary school (aged 12 to 13 years) were assessed by confidential interview as part of a study of respiratory function in Sydney schoolchildren. It was found that in Sydney, in 1971, 20‐7% of boys and 4‐5% of girls aged 12 to 13 years were regularly smoking one or more cigarettes a week. Comparison of these data with those of an Australiawide survey conducted in 1968 by the ad‐hoc Subcommittee on Smoking of the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia revealed a 32% reduction in the number of boys claiming to smoke one or more cigarettes a week. No definite evidence of lung damage was found in smokers, nor was any significant difference found between smokers and non‐smokers with regard to incidence of past respiratory disease. Children who smoked came from distinct social and cultural backgrounds, which is important if comparisons of smokers with other children are made. The significance of smoking at this age lies in its progression to regular, heavier smoking later, rather than in present impaired lung function or disease.