Smoking among young: “still much more to be done”

A survey of more than 125,000 15-year-olds in England conducted by the Health and Social Care Information Centre has found that 24 percent have tried smoking at least once, according to a story in The Guardian relayed by the TMA.

Twenty eight percent of 15-year-old females and 21 percent of 15-year-old males were found to have tried smoking.

And eight percent of all 15-year-olds were current smokers.

Eighteen percent of 15-year-olds were found to have tried electronic cigarettes at least once and three percent currently use them.

Fifteen percent have tried other tobacco products.

Those in the most deprived areas had a higher rate of ever smoking, 27 percent, than those in the least deprived areas, 21 percent.

Electronic cigarette use, too, tended to be higher in more deprived parts of England.

And whites were more likely than were minority ethnic teens to try or regularly use cigarettes or electronic cigarettes.

The use of other tobacco products, including hookah, was higher among minority ethnic teenagers.

Deborah Arnott of Action on Smoking and Health was quoted as saying that since one in 12 young people were smoking by the time they are 15, “there is still much more to be done”.