title: Young male daily smokers are nicotine dependent and experience several unsuccessful quit attempts.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Previous studies on smoking cessation have generally been conducted with adolescents or adults. Very little is known about the cessation attempts, their success, and/or use of pharmacological aids in young adult smokers who want to quit. The present study aimed to investigate quitting attempts in a group of both young male daily and occasional smokers.
  
  
  METHODS
  614 male smokers aged 18-26 years completed a standardized questionnaire about their smoking habits, quit attempts, and aids used in smoking cessation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nearly all daily smokers (95.3%, 95% CI 93.1-96.8) were nicotine addicted to some extend according to the standardized questionnaire, and the more addicted they were, the more often they had tried to quit (p = 0.025). Of the daily smokers, 55.6% (95% CI 51.3-59.9) had made quit attempts and 36.2% (95% CI 32.1-40.4) had used nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). In all, 34.1% (95% CI 25.2-44.3) of all occasional smokers reported having intended to quit but they had seldom made more than one attempt whereas 20.2% of daily smokers had made at least three attempts. The stronger the nicotine dependence in daily smokers was, the more likely the subject was to have attempted to use NRT (quite dependent 23.8% vs. totally dependent 48.9%) (p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A high proportion of young male daily smokers were nicotine addicted. Young smokers make many unsuccessful attempts to stop smoking using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) on their own. A better availability of professional cessation services directed to young adult smokers is needed.
authors: Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Lapland Central Hospital, Rovaniemi, Finland. tuula.toljamo@lshp.fi
authors: Tuula
authors: T
authors: Toljamo
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Hamari
authors: Pentti
authors: P
authors: Nieminen
authors: Vuokko L
authors: VL
authors: Kinnula
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D061485:Tobacco Use Cessation Devices; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D017211:Treatment Failure; D055815:Young Adult