Temporal changes in smoking prevalence among adolescents across 23 countries

Seohyun Hong; Yejun Son; Myeongcheol Lee; Jaeyu Park; Hayeon Lee; Hyeri Lee; Hojae Lee; Hyejun Kim; Elena Dragioti; Guillaume Fond; Laurent Boyer; Guillermo F. López Sánchez; Mark A. Tully; Masoud Rahmati; Selin Woo; Dong Keon Yon; Lee Smith

doi:10.1111/apa.17543

Temporal changes in smoking prevalence among adolescents across 23 countries

Seohyun Hong
, Yejun Son
, Myeongcheol Lee
, Jaeyu Park
, Hayeon Lee
, Hyeri Lee
, Hojae Lee
, Hyejun Kim
, Elena Dragioti
, Guillaume Fond
, Laurent Boyer
, Guillermo F. López Sánchez
, Mark A. Tully
, Masoud Rahmati
, Selin Woo
, Dong Keon Yon
, Lee Smith

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

4 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Aim
This study aimed to investigate temporal changes in smoking prevalence among adolescents aged 13?15 across 23 countries and to assess individual and country-level factors influencing smoking behaviour.

Methods
This study used data from 168?286 young adolescents aged 13?15?years obtained from the Global School-based Student Health, 2003?2021. Linear regression models and meta-analyses were conducted to analyse the changes in current smoking prevalence among young adolescents.

Results
Among the 23 countries, smoking prevalence decreased in six countries, including Argentina, Fiji, Jamaica, Samoa, Tonga and Uruguay, while it increased in four countries, namely Guyana, Morocco, Thailand and Vanuatu. The prevalence of smoking was higher among male adolescents at 15.5% (95% CI 13.8%?17.2%) compared to females at 8.0% (95% CI 6.7%?9.3%). Adolescents exposed to secondhand smoke had a prevalence of 16.3% (95% CI 14.5%?18.2%), significantly higher than 4.2% (95% CI 3.7?4.6) in those not exposed. Smoking prevalence was 16.5% (95% CI 14.8%?18.2%) among those with smoking parents or guardians, compared to 8.1% (95% CI 7.1%?9.1%) among those without.

Conclusion
The findings highlight the need for tailored tobacco control measures to reduce adolescent smoking globally. Strengthening policy enforcement and addressing social determinants of smoking are critical to achieving further reductions.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1189-1201
Number of pages	13
Journal	Acta Paediatrica
Volume	114
Issue number	6
Early online date	11 Dec 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.17543
Publication status	Published (in print/issue) - 30 Jun 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Data Availability Statement

Data are available on reasonable request. Study protocol, statistical code: available from DKY (email: [email protected]). Data set: available from the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through a data use agreement.

Funding

This research was supported by grants from the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Korea government (MSIT; RS\u20132023\u201300248157) and the MSIT (Ministry of Science and ICT), Korea, under the Information Technology Research Center support programme (IITP\u20102024\u2010RS\u20102024\u201000438239) supervised by the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation. The funders had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation or writing of the report.

Funder number
RS–2023–00248157
IITP‐2024‐RS‐2024‐00438239

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

adolescents
global health
public policy
secondhand smoke
smoking

Access to Document

10.1111/apa.17543

AAMAuthor Accepted Manuscript, 1.3 MB

Cite this

@article{106d5eda0cf042e3a9e4112632b4e734,

title = "Temporal changes in smoking prevalence among adolescents across 23 countries",

abstract = "Aim This study aimed to investigate temporal changes in smoking prevalence among adolescents aged 13?15 across 23 countries and to assess individual and country-level factors influencing smoking behaviour. Methods This study used data from 168?286 young adolescents aged 13?15?years obtained from the Global School-based Student Health, 2003?2021. Linear regression models and meta-analyses were conducted to analyse the changes in current smoking prevalence among young adolescents. Results Among the 23 countries, smoking prevalence decreased in six countries, including Argentina, Fiji, Jamaica, Samoa, Tonga and Uruguay, while it increased in four countries, namely Guyana, Morocco, Thailand and Vanuatu. The prevalence of smoking was higher among male adolescents at 15.5\% (95\% CI 13.8\%?17.2\%) compared to females at 8.0\% (95\% CI 6.7\%?9.3\%). Adolescents exposed to secondhand smoke had a prevalence of 16.3\% (95\% CI 14.5\%?18.2\%), significantly higher than 4.2\% (95\% CI 3.7?4.6) in those not exposed. Smoking prevalence was 16.5\% (95\% CI 14.8\%?18.2\%) among those with smoking parents or guardians, compared to 8.1\% (95\% CI 7.1\%?9.1\%) among those without. Conclusion The findings highlight the need for tailored tobacco control measures to reduce adolescent smoking globally. Strengthening policy enforcement and addressing social determinants of smoking are critical to achieving further reductions.",

keywords = "adolescents, global health, public policy, secondhand smoke, smoking",

author = "Seohyun Hong and Yejun Son and Myeongcheol Lee and Jaeyu Park and Hayeon Lee and Hyeri Lee and Hojae Lee and Hyejun Kim and Elena Dragioti and Guillaume Fond and Laurent Boyer and \{L{\'o}pez S{\'a}nchez\}, \{Guillermo F.\} and Tully, \{Mark A.\} and Masoud Rahmati and Selin Woo and Yon, \{Dong Keon\} and Lee Smith",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2024 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley \& Sons Ltd.",

year = "2025",

month = jun,

day = "30",

doi = "10.1111/apa.17543",

language = "English",

volume = "114",

pages = "1189--1201",

journal = "Acta Paediatrica",

issn = "0803-5253",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",

number = "6",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Temporal changes in smoking prevalence among adolescents across 23 countries

AU - Hong, Seohyun

AU - Son, Yejun

AU - Lee, Myeongcheol

AU - Park, Jaeyu

AU - Lee, Hayeon

AU - Lee, Hyeri

AU - Lee, Hojae

AU - Kim, Hyejun

AU - Dragioti, Elena

AU - Fond, Guillaume

AU - Boyer, Laurent

AU - López Sánchez, Guillermo F.

AU - Tully, Mark A.

AU - Rahmati, Masoud

AU - Woo, Selin

AU - Yon, Dong Keon

AU - Smith, Lee

PY - 2025/6/30

Y1 - 2025/6/30

N2 - Aim This study aimed to investigate temporal changes in smoking prevalence among adolescents aged 13?15 across 23 countries and to assess individual and country-level factors influencing smoking behaviour. Methods This study used data from 168?286 young adolescents aged 13?15?years obtained from the Global School-based Student Health, 2003?2021. Linear regression models and meta-analyses were conducted to analyse the changes in current smoking prevalence among young adolescents. Results Among the 23 countries, smoking prevalence decreased in six countries, including Argentina, Fiji, Jamaica, Samoa, Tonga and Uruguay, while it increased in four countries, namely Guyana, Morocco, Thailand and Vanuatu. The prevalence of smoking was higher among male adolescents at 15.5% (95% CI 13.8%?17.2%) compared to females at 8.0% (95% CI 6.7%?9.3%). Adolescents exposed to secondhand smoke had a prevalence of 16.3% (95% CI 14.5%?18.2%), significantly higher than 4.2% (95% CI 3.7?4.6) in those not exposed. Smoking prevalence was 16.5% (95% CI 14.8%?18.2%) among those with smoking parents or guardians, compared to 8.1% (95% CI 7.1%?9.1%) among those without. Conclusion The findings highlight the need for tailored tobacco control measures to reduce adolescent smoking globally. Strengthening policy enforcement and addressing social determinants of smoking are critical to achieving further reductions.

AB - Aim This study aimed to investigate temporal changes in smoking prevalence among adolescents aged 13?15 across 23 countries and to assess individual and country-level factors influencing smoking behaviour. Methods This study used data from 168?286 young adolescents aged 13?15?years obtained from the Global School-based Student Health, 2003?2021. Linear regression models and meta-analyses were conducted to analyse the changes in current smoking prevalence among young adolescents. Results Among the 23 countries, smoking prevalence decreased in six countries, including Argentina, Fiji, Jamaica, Samoa, Tonga and Uruguay, while it increased in four countries, namely Guyana, Morocco, Thailand and Vanuatu. The prevalence of smoking was higher among male adolescents at 15.5% (95% CI 13.8%?17.2%) compared to females at 8.0% (95% CI 6.7%?9.3%). Adolescents exposed to secondhand smoke had a prevalence of 16.3% (95% CI 14.5%?18.2%), significantly higher than 4.2% (95% CI 3.7?4.6) in those not exposed. Smoking prevalence was 16.5% (95% CI 14.8%?18.2%) among those with smoking parents or guardians, compared to 8.1% (95% CI 7.1%?9.1%) among those without. Conclusion The findings highlight the need for tailored tobacco control measures to reduce adolescent smoking globally. Strengthening policy enforcement and addressing social determinants of smoking are critical to achieving further reductions.

KW - adolescents

KW - global health

KW - public policy

KW - secondhand smoke

KW - smoking

UR - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/apa.17543

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85211507224

UR - https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/en/publications/106d5eda-0cf0-42e3-a9e4-112632b4e734

U2 - 10.1111/apa.17543

DO - 10.1111/apa.17543

M3 - Article

C2 - 39660513

SN - 0803-5253

VL - 114

SP - 1189

EP - 1201

JO - Acta Paediatrica

JF - Acta Paediatrica

IS - 6

ER -

Temporal changes in smoking prevalence among adolescents across 23 countries

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Availability Statement

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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Cite this