ABSTRACT
Smoking is rarely monitored in children younger than 12 years of age. In order to learn more about this demographic group, smoking behavior among 3,887 children ages 8 to 12 years was evaluated in Prague, Czech Republic. Among the children evaluated, 24.0% reported having ever smoked. The mean age of the first smoking experience was 8.2 years (SD = 1.7). Cigarettes were the most common form of smoking (16.5%), but children reported the use of other forms of smoking including water pipes (7.4%), cigars (3.9%), and marijuana (0.8%). These findings have important public health implications.
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Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge Derek Noland, MPH, of the University of Colorado School of Medicine for language revision.