[Cigarette smoking and the risk of high-school students becoming dependent on nicotine]

Establishing cigarette smoking prevalence, the factors associated with it and the risk of nicotine dependence in adolescents attending school in Cartagena, Colombia.

This was a cross-sectional study of a probability sample of 1,152 adolescent students from public and private schools in Cartagena. Students anonymously and individually completed a questionnaire containing sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics. A descriptive analysis was then made of the variables investigated. All qualitative and quantitative variables were then dichotomised and odds ratios (OR) were estimated with 95 % confidence intervals.

1,014 students successfully completed the survey. Mean age was 15.1 years. 355 (35.0 %) students had experimented with cigarettes, 70 (6.9 %) reported smoking regularly and 18/70 (257 %) presented a high risk of nicotine dependence. The following variables were associated with smoking: being an elementary school student (4.08 OR; 2.27 to 7.35 95 %CI), being over 15 (3.71 OR; 2.85-7.44 95 %CI), having parents who smoked (2.47 OR; 1.42 to 4.31 95 %CI), being male (2.37 OR; 1.40 to 4.00 95 %CI) and having a brother or sister who smoked (2.21 OR; 1.16 to 4.21 95 %CI).

The prevalence of smoking was low in high-school students from Cartagena. The frequency of smokers was higher amongst basic secondary education students, males older than fifteen and in whom the parents or brothers or sisters were smokers.