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Young adults can easier quit smoking than elder ones

Published on July 10, 2008 10:26 AM

A group of researchers at the Moores Cancer Centre at the University of California, San Diego said young adults can easier to quit smoking than older adults. They think that young adults are more likely to make a serious effort to quit. Researchers found that young adults, aged 18 to 24, are more likely to have tried to quit smoking than older adults, aged 50 to 64.

John P. Pierce, director of the UC San Diego's Cancer Prevention and Control Program said, "Most previous studies focused on smokers aged 35 and older who have smoked for 20 years or more. That has led to an overemphasis on drug treatments to help cessation, whereas this study emphasized the importance of implementing a smoke free home if a smoker wants to quit successfully."

The goal of the investigation was to estimate the relationship between smoking cessation and tobacco-related behaviours between age groups.

In a study was showed that 84 percent of those aged 18 to 24 reported seriously trying to quit smoking compared to just 64 percent of those 50 to 64 years old. The older the smoker is the less likely to quit or even try to quit.

Young adults smokers can easier quit smoking if they come from smoke free homes, if use pharmaceutical aids or typically smoke fewer cigarettes a day.

"It is likely that high cessation rates among 18 to 24 year olds also reflect changing social norms over the previous decade," said Karen Messer, Ph.D., Moores UCSD Cancer Center. "Future tobacco control efforts aimed at increasing cessation rates among young adult smokers should continue to target social norms."

The study also showed that smokers who lived in a smoke free home were four times more successful at quitting than those who lived in a home with a smoker.

Pierce added, "It has been hypothesized that young people who take up smoking with restrictions at work and home are likely to develop lower levels of dependence than smokers who took up the habit without such restrictions. Smoke free homes place barriers around important potential smoking situations, such as after a meal. This study emphasizes that these barriers may be sufficient to prevent relapse and offer a partial explanation for the strong association of smoke free homes and successful quitting."

But for smokers aged 35 to 49 years old will help to quit smoking only pharmaceutical aids, such as inhalers, anti-depressive pills or nasal sprays.