Czech adolescent smokers: unhappy to smoke but unable to quit

To assess the prevalence of tobacco dependence among adolescents in the Czech Republic in 2010, their willingness to quit and knowledge about quitting options.

Primary, intermediate and secondary school students completed an anonymous questionnaire on tobacco use during a smoking prevention class, with a response rate of 100%.

Of 1420 anonymous questionnaires analysed, 66.8% (n = 949) of respondents had ever tried smoking. More were from smoking (50.4%) than non-smoking (49.6%) families; there were no differences in sex. Most student smokers had experimented with cigarettes (94.6%), cigars (8%), marihuana cigarettes (4.6%) and water pipes (1.9%). At the time of the survey, 52.9% (520/949) of those who had ever tried smoking were current smokers, 30.3% smoked daily, 18.3% weekly and 4.2% less frequently. Only 20.5% of smokers had not considered quitting, and 66.9% had tried unsuccessfully to quit. Withdrawal symptoms were experienced by 24.5% (123/502) of the current smokers, indicating a high level of nicotine dependence in this age group. The majority (346/467, 74.1%) of the current smokers said they would stop smoking immediately on their own. Only a few would seek help at a pharmacy (4.9%), 3.4% would ask their doctor and 1.7% their parents.

Tobacco dependence is prevalent among Czech adolescents. The majority of smokers wanted to stop, but knowledge about smoking cessation and quitting assistance offered to smokers was low.