Assessing smoking prevalence amongst school children in a health board region

The objective of the study was to provide baseline data for Tayside in 1995 on the prevalence of smoking cigarettes in school children, aged 11 to 15 years. The design was a cross-sectional survey of 4675 children, obtained using a random cluster sample of 79 schools, stratified by school year and deprivation category. The main outcomes measures using a structured questionnaire, were the prevalence and level of smoking, by age and gender. The prevalence rate of regular smoking was 9% (95% CI 8.2%-9.8%). The rate rises appreciably for boys between 13 and 14 years and for girls between 12 and 13 years. Source of cigarettes was also an outcome measure, most cigarettes were obtained from small shops. Health Boards require a standard method for collecting regional baseline data on the prevalence of smoking among children both for evaluation of targeted health promotion initiatives by age and gender and also for comparison of regional smoking prevalence with national targets.