Publication at First Faculty of Medicine |
2018
Abstract
Smoking is rarely monitored in children younger than 12 years of age. In order to learn more about this demographic group, smoking behavior among 3,887 children ages 8 to 12 years was evaluated in Prague, Czech Republic.
Among the children evaluated, 24.0% reported having ever smoked. The mean age of the first smoking experience was 8.2 years (SD D 1.7).
Cigarettes were the most common form of smoking (16.5%), but children reported the use of other forms of smoking including water pipes (7.4%), cigars (3.9%), and marijuana (0.8%). These findings have important public health implications.