171892 Prevalence of selected nicotine dependence symptoms among U.S. adolescents who started smoking in the past year: 2004 National Youth Tobacco Survey

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Ralph S. Caraballo, PhD , Office on Smoking and Health, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Scott P. Novak, PhD , Behavioral Health Epidemiology, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC
Kat Asman, MPH , Statistics and Epidemiology Unit; Chronic & Infectious Disease Research Program, RTI International, Atlanta, GA
Objective. —To determine rates of four selected nicotine dependence symptoms– nicotine withdrawal (irritable, restless), cravings, urges, and self-efficacy within different levels of smoking.

Methods. — A 2004 nationally representative sample of students enrolled in grades 6 through 12 in the U.S. Our analysis included students aged 12–18 years who smoked at least one day in the past 30 days (n=2,580). We calculated weighted percentages by smoking patterns that were created from the options for quantity (5 levels) and frequency (5 levels).

Results.— About 26% of current smokers who started smoking less than a year prior to the survey and who in the past month smoked at low levels (<1 cigarette, 1 cigarette, 2-5 cigarettes) on a few days (1 or 2 days, 3-5 days) reported having at least 1 of 4 nicotine dependence symptoms. The more prevalent symptom was withdrawal (19.6%), followed by cravings (13.5%), believing not been able to quit if wanted to (6.4%) and urges (5.2%). About 18% of low level smokers reported 1 symptom, 7% reported 2 symptoms, 3% reported 3 symptoms, and 1% reported having 4 symptoms. Among low level smokers who smoked 1-2 days, 27% reported having at least 1 nicotine dependence symptom compared to 34% of those who smoked 3-5 days. Finally, our analysis showed that among daily smokers, over 90% had at least 1 nicotine dependence symptom.

Conclusions. — Our findings that nicotine dependence symptoms are present among those in the early stages of cigarette smoking suggest a need for early cessation intervention.

Learning Objectives:
Attendants will be able to identify which nicotine dependence symptoms are present on adolescent smokers who just started smoking Speaker will describe and discuss the importance of early nicotine dependence symptomatology and the need gor early cessation intervention

Keywords: Smoking, Adolescents

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the first author on a paper that will be submitted on this abstract. I conceptualized the idea, guided the data analyses, and wrote the results and conclusions of it.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.