Age of initiation of cigarette smoking and smokeless tobacco use among western Alaska Native people: Secondary analysis of the WATCH study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

This study examined self-reported age of tobacco initiation (cigarette smoking and smokeless tobacco [ST] use) and explored potential sex and generational group influences on tobacco use onset among Alaska Native (AN) adult ever tobacco users.

Methods

Secondary analysis of consolidated data from the Western Alaska Tribal Collaborative for Health (WATCH) study comprised 2800 AN adult ever tobacco users (1490 women, 1310 men; mean age = 39.2 years) from two rural western Alaska regions. ST use data were limited to one region. Logistic regression was used to examine potential sex and generational group (age 18-29, 30-49, ≥50) effects on initiation at ≤13 years of age.

Results

Thirty-seven percent of the sample reported using any tobacco product by age 13 years.

SUBMITTER: Patten CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6541901 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature