Smoking habits among 13-18 year old students in Lombardy]

Objective: to describe the prevalence of smokers among 13-18 years old students in Lombardy and to evaluate some related motives. Design: a survey has been carried out with anonymous questionnaires, distributed at the beginning of the school year 2005-2006. Setting: the study involved 3,593 classes of the third year of middle school and 2,893 classes of the second and the fifth year of high school sampled among all the schools of Lombardy. Participants: the study interested 11,494 students aged either 13, 15 or 18. Main outcome measures. the prevalence of habitual smokers was espectively 6%, 26.5% and 33.2%. Results. a higher percentage of smokers report to have low school performances and to receive more than 15 euros as weekly tip. The number of smokers among family components and friends always appears higher for smoker students. Unemployed fathers and working mothers were higher among smokers. Both parents of smoker students have a lower educational level. Conclusion: an organized and systematic regional surveillance could highlight some characteristics of smoking habit among young students useful to set health education programs and to evaluate the efficacy of interventions already being carried out. Besides, it could enhance the awareness of the problem. (Epidemiol Prev 2008; 32 (6): 294-300)