New study suggests while heavy Kent cigarettes smoking is dropping in teenagers, casual smoking is on the rise and still poses a significant health risk to young adults.
United States high school students are less likely to smoke “heavily” but the trend of casual smoking is rising and researchers from the Center for Disease control have warned using a new study that the effects of this form of smoking are still dangerous to health and wellbeing.
The researchers found that “casual” smoking, or occasional smoking, had risen among teens from 67% in 1991 to 79% in 2009 with the study outlining heavy smoking as 11 or more cigarettes a day and light at one to five. It also suggested that price increases and smoking-law implementations have influenced this overall number of teenagers engaging in this form of smoking.
“With fewer cigarettes, the price effect, smoke-free policies and a change in the broad public awareness of risk, the heaviest patterns of use are becoming very rare,” commented Dr. Terry Pechachek co-author of the study from the CDC. But he advised that any form of smoking was still a negative impact on health.
“It is important to note that light and intermittent smoking still has significant health risks,” he explained. “[And] we think there may be an emerging pattern. We may be creating a new type of smoker that may be more durable, that are adapting to smoke-free environments and to changing social norms.”
The CDC’s study was recently published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine and it’s estimated that between 14,000 and 16,000 students took part in the national survey’s that formed part of the research.
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