Preventive medicine
-
Preventive medicine · Dec 1999
Multicenter StudyAge of initiation, smoking patterns, and risk in a population of working adults.
Early age of initiation is a significant risk factor for long-term dependent smoking and may also relate to other unhealthy behaviors and increased likelihood of illness, independent of duration of smoking. ⋯ The overall strength of the findings was unexpected. Early initiation of regular smoking predicted a significant constellation of risk factors throughout adulthood. Interventions that significantly delay smoking onset, even in the absence of permanent prevention, could have important public health implications.