Teenagers who smoke daily are now having more health complains compared to previous years, a study involving Norwegian teenagers and published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research has revealed. This increase in health complaints comes even as the prevalence of teenage smoking has gone down, the researchers found.
"Teens who smoke report significantly higher levels of health complaints than nonsmoking teens, and we found that this gap has widened over the years, even as the overall prevalence of teen smoking has dropped," said lead author Dr. Marc Braverman, as per PsychCentral. Braverman is an extension specialist in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State University.
PsychCentral: Teens Who Smoke Daily May Be Coping with Poor Health https://t.co/6Ee7tfJCJb
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Teenage Smoking Data From Norway Used
The researchers used data from the Health Behavior in School-aged Children Study, an international collaborative project backed by the World Health Organization that involves 43 countries. In this project, 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds are questioned every four years.
This particular study used data smoking behavior and health concerns in Norway because smoking rates have dropped significantly in this country, reported MPR. According to the report, the researchers found during the period of dramatic decline in smoking in 2001-2002 to 2005-2006, those who smoked daily smokers experienced increases in health complaints while no increases were noted in the intermittent and non-smoker groups.
Teenagers Smokers' Health Complaints
The teenagers in Norway gave information on their smoking behavior and the frequency of experiencing health complaints, both physical and psychological in nature. According to Daily Times, some of these complaints were backache, dizziness, feeling "low", headache, irritability, nervousness, sleep difficulties and stomachache.
The study also found that teenaged girls who smoked daily reported greater levels of health complaints more than any other group of teenagers but the available data could not point out a reason for this. Braverman and other researchers from Oregon State University, together with colleagues from University of Bergen and Norwegian Institute of Public Health worked on this study.
