458 Prevalence of smoking and alcohol consumption among Russian adolescents

ObjectiveSmoking is one of the main preventable causes of death, but nonetheless leads to more than 7 million deaths in the world each year. Worldwide, 3 million deaths every year result from harmful use of alcohol. Russia is facing a serious burden of smoking and alcohol consumption, which affects not only adults, but also adolescents. In order to conduct appropriate tobacco and alcohol control policies, it is important to understand smoking and alcohol consumption prevalence.MethodsAn analysis of the prevalence of smoking and alcohol consumption was carried out in the research center in Moscow, Russian Federation among 303 adolescents (84 boys and 219 girls) 15-18 years old who participated in a study of the prevalence of allergic diseases according to the protocol of the research program GA2LEN. All participants completed the standardized GA2LEN questionnaire.Results25% of respondents (11% of boys and 14% of girls) said they had smoked for as long as a year, among them, most started smoking at the age of 16. 68% of teens who said they were still smoking as of one month ago, smoked 10 cigarettes a day. Among participants who had previously smoked, 55.1% already stopped smoking or started to smoke less, most of them at the age of 18. Among those who stopped smoking, they had smoked 12 cigarettes per day in average. 27% of participants were regularly exposed to tobacco smoke in the last 12 months. 34.2% of respondent’s fathers smoked regularly during their childhood, 7.9% of respondents had mothers who smoked regularly during their childhood/before they were born. 3.9% of respondents said that they had been hospitalized before the age of two years for lung disease We found a statistically significant association between a mother smoking during childhood or before the birth of a child and that child being hospitalized before the age of two years for lung disease (p=0,001). 53% of respondents (14% of boys 39% of girls) said they never drank any alcohol. 31% of participants (7% of boys and 24% of girls) said they drank alcohol less than once a week, 9% of respondents (5% of boys and 4% of girls) said they drank alcohol at least once a week but less than once a day.ConclusionFurther efforts should be devoted to encouraging smoking and alcohol cessation and to develop strategies for preventing tobacco and alcohol use in young patients.