OBJECTIVE: To determinate the relationship between the age of smoking initiation and the success of the smoking cessation program. DESIGN: Prospective cohort. SETTING: Smoking Cessation Unit, in the University Hospital of Bellvitge, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain. PARTICIPANTS: 2801 smokers of 10 or more cigarette per day, who started a smoking cessation program between January 1993 to December 2002. METHODS: Kaplan-Meier method was used to obtain the probability of relapse. The log-rank test was used to determine relapse differences in time between groups of age at smoking initiation. Hazard ratios (HR) of quitting were estimated with a Cox model. RESULTS: The mean age at smoking onset was 15.5+/-4.1 years for men and 17.7+/-5.4 years for women. The age of onset smoking was significant for relapse during smoking cessation in men with a HR=1.42 (95% CI, 1.09-1.86), and for women who started to smoke before 14 years old compared with the reference group a HR=1.25 (95% CI, 0.76-1.49). CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that age of smoking onset predicts higher rates of relapse in a smoking cessation program in men. The low motivation for cessation was in both sex a significative factor for relapse and the low and high nicotine dependence were in women.
OBJECTIVE: To determinate the relationship between the age of smoking initiation and the success of the smoking cessation program. DESIGN: Prospective cohort. SETTING: Smoking Cessation Unit, in the University Hospital of Bellvitge, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain. PARTICIPANTS: 2801 smokers of 10 or more cigarette per day, who started a smoking cessation program between January 1993 to December 2002. METHODS: Kaplan-Meier method was used to obtain the probability of relapse. The log-rank test was used to determine relapse differences in time between groups of age at smoking initiation. Hazard ratios (HR) of quitting were estimated with a Cox model. RESULTS: The mean age at smoking onset was 15.5+/-4.1 years for men and 17.7+/-5.4 years for women. The age of onset smoking was significant for relapse during smoking cessation in men with a HR=1.42 (95% CI, 1.09-1.86), and for women who started to smoke before 14 years old compared with the reference group a HR=1.25 (95% CI, 0.76-1.49). CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that age of smoking onset predicts higher rates of relapse in a smoking cessation program in men. The low motivation for cessation was in both sex a significative factor for relapse and the low and high nicotine dependence were in women.
Authors: Joseph R DiFranza; Judith A Savageau; Kenneth Fletcher; Judith K Ockene; Nancy A Rigotti; Ann D McNeill; Mardia Coleman; Constance Wood Journal: Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med Date: 2002-04