Youth Prevention

Research

New U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation: Interventions can prevent smoking by children and teens
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has upgraded its recommendation indicating that primary care clinicians provide interventions, including education or brief counseling, to prevent initiation of tobacco use in school-aged children and adolescents. The new guidance is an update to guidance issued in 2003 stating that the evidence was inconclusive for primary care interventions for youth. Since then, the scientific evidence has grown to indicate that pediatricians can prevent smoking and other tobacco use and help their young patients to quit. The USPSTF recommendation also identifies promising strategies, such as price increases through tobacco taxes, mass media campaigns, and text messaging cessation programs to help physicians support and deliver evidence-based interventions. Click here to read more, or click here for the USPSTF recommendation.

Use of conventional and novel smokeless tobacco products among U.S. adolescents
Using data from the 2011 National Youth Tobacco Survey, researchers determined the current use of conventional and novel smokeless tobacco products within the past 30 days among U.S. middle and high school students. The results of the study reveal that 5.6% of sixth to twelfth graders have used any smokeless tobacco product in the past 30 days. The findings also showed that 72% of smokeless tobacco users concurrently smoke combustible tobacco products. Exposure to peer and household smokeless tobacco use was associated with respondents' smokeless tobacco use, while believing that all forms of tobacco are harmful was a protective factor against smokeless tobacco use. Evidence from the study suggests that smokeless tobacco may increase an adolescent’s risk of smoking and should not be promoted as an alternative to smoking. Similarly, the results indicate a need to engage pediatricians in tobacco control efforts. Click here to read more, or click here to view the study abstract in Pediatrics.

Kids more likely to smoke if older sibling smokes, or if parent smoked as a teen
Kids are more likely to smoke if a parent or older sibling smokes, or if a parent smoked as a teen, according to new study findings. Based on the findings, intervention efforts should target parents who were smokers at any point from adolescence to adulthood, and prevention efforts should also target the smoking behavior of older siblings, according to a statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Read more here, or click here to read the publication in the journal Pediatrics.

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Reports

In all flavors, cigars draw in young smokers
In 2009, Congress passed landmark legislation, authorizing the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate the sale, manufacturing and production of tobacco products which included a prohibition on the sale of candy and fruit-flavored cigarettes. The 2009 law addressed only flavors in cigarettes and granted the FDA the power to decide when and how flavors in cigars and other tobacco products will be regulated. A recent article by The New York Times highlights the lack of action taken by the FDA regarding flavored cigars and other tobacco products. According to the report, cigarette sales have decreased by a third in the past decade, but cigar sales have doubled in the same time period, presenting a considerable challenge for youth tobacco control efforts. Flavored cigars now represent more than half of convenience store and gas station cigar sales, having gone up nearly 40% since 2008. Tobacco control advocates state that action needs to be taken to prevent youth tobacco use. While acknowledging that the FDA has been slow to respond, FDA Center for Tobacco Products Director Mitch Zeller notes that tobacco regulations must be rooted in research, and strong evidence is needed in order for the agency’s policies to withstand legal challenges from the tobacco industry. Click here to read more.

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