[Tobacco consumption among adolescents. Value of the intervention of health-service staff].
OBJECTIVE
To describe the characteristics of tobacco consumption among adolescents seen at a health centre, find their opinions of the factors that affect consumption, and analyse the quality of the intervention of the health staff.


METHODS
Descriptive, cross-sectional study of adolescents attending the health centre.


METHODS
Primary care (PC).


METHODS
All the young people between 10 and 20 who attended family medicine, paediatric or nursing clinics, whether on-demand or with appointments, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between December 2000 and February 2001.


RESULTS
23.1% of all the girls smoked (95% CI, 14.9-33.1) versus 15.3% of boys (95% CI, 8.4-24.7). Among non-smokers the main reason for not smoking was health (94.4%). 50% of smokers had tried to give up, of whom 70.5% tried for health-related reasons. 49.4% (95% CI, 41.8-57.1) of those included in the study had been asked at the health centre on some occasion whether they smoked (10.1% of these [95% CI, 4.2-19.8] were aged 10-13; 73.4% [95% CI, 60.9-83.7] 14-17; and 76.7% [CI 95%: 61.4-88.2] 18-20); and 50.6% had never been asked. Of those who were asked and did smoke, 75% (95% CI, 55.1-89.3) were advised to give up and 4.7% of these (95% CI, 0.1-23.8) were offered help to do so. 28.81% of those who did not smoke (95% CI, 17.8-42.1) were encouraged to continue not to smoke.


CONCLUSIONS
Both smokers and non-smokers are highly aware of the repercussions of tobacco on health. Tobacco dependency in young people was not tackled well enough at health centre clinics, especially by paediatricians.
Blasco Oliete
M
M
Médico de familia. EAP Humanes. Area 9. INSALUD. Madrid. España. meliton65@eresmas.com
Pérez Trullén
A
A
Sanz Cuesta
T
T
Clemente Jiménez
M L
ML
Cañas de Paz
R
R
Herrero Labarga
I
I
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control