World's Girls Defy Smoking Predictions
Boy-Girl Gap in Smokers Worldwide Is Smaller Than Expected
Feb. 16, 2006 -- Girls too young to vote are shaking up global research on smoking.
When the CDC's Charles Warren, PhD, and colleagues surveyed students worldwide aged 13-15 years old about tobacco use, they expected more boys than girls to be current cigarette smokers.
Warren's team was right about that. But the gap was narrower than they expected. Overall, the survey showed that 10.5% of boys were current smokers; 6.7% of girls were current smokers.
Men and women have a bigger gap in smoking than boys and girls, the study shows.
If those teens keep smoking at the same rate as they age, there could be "important implications for the global burden of chronic diseases," the researchers state in The Lancet.
The findings are "troubling," write Warren and colleagues. They call for a "redoubling of efforts" to prevent or stop young people from using tobacco products.
Tobacco Goes Young and Global
The Global Youth Tobacco Survey was done at 395 sites in 131 countries. The surveys were tailored to each country, translated into local languages, and given anonymously at school.
Topics included current cigarette smoking and use of other tobacco products including snuff, chewing tobacco, cigars, pipes, and cigarillos. Among the findings:
- Nearly 9% of students were current smokers.
- More than 1 in 10 students used tobacco products other than cigarettes.
Regional results include:
- The Americas and Europe had the highest percentage of current smokers (nearly 18% of students in each region).
- Southeast Asia and the eastern Mediterranean region had the highest percentage of students using tobacco products other than cigarettes (about 13% of students in each region).
- The Americas had the highest rate of current use of any tobacco product, including cigarettes (22% of students).
Countries that haven't completed the study include Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and most of western Europe, the researchers note.