Prevalence of cigarette smoking among secondary school students--Budapest, Hungary, 1995.
Because of the high prevalence of tobacco use in countries of Central and Eastern Europe, public health officials in many of these countries have designated as a priority the prevention of smoking initiation among youth. In 1995, a nationally representative survey in the Republic of Hungary documented that 35.8% of 16-year-old students in that country had smoked cigarettes during the preceding 30 days. To better characterize smoking among youth in Hungary, the Field Epidemiology Training Program, Hungarian Ministry of Welfare, conducted a cross-sectional survey in Budapest (1995 population: 1,906,798) among secondary school students aged 14-18 years. Specific objectives of the survey were to assess the prevalence of cigarette smoking among these students, determine factors associated with higher prevalences, and describe the smoking habits of current cigarette smokers. This report summarizes the findings, which indicate that one third of all students smoked; half of all 18-year-olds smoked; and of those students who smoked, 41% most frequently smoked an imported, internationally recognized cigarette brand.
D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006814:Hungary / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012574:Schools; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*