Country-Specific Differences in Age of Smoking Initiation Among COPD Patients in the European Mobilise-D study

Résumé fourni par la source

Background: Tobacco endgame policies are focused on stopping children and young people from accessing cigarettes. Either through increasing the age of sale to 21 or increasing the age of sale each year. The age of smoking initiation as a measure of smoke exposure is a useful metric when exploring smoking exposure within COPD populations. Observing and exploring European differences within this metric is important for observing tobacco control policies. Aim: To observe the age differences in smoking initiation within the European Mobilise-D COPD cohort. Methods: Descriptive statistics were used to observe and assess the differences between the age of smoking initiation within COPD patients across 10 different European countries. Results: Using data from COPD patients' first clinical study visit for the Mobilise-D trial, data from 606 patients were used from 6 European countries Germany, the UK, Spain, Belgium, Greece, and Switzerland. The UK reported the youngest age of smoking initiation at 15.4 ± 3.8 years and Greece reported the oldest age of smoking initiation at 17.6 ±3.2 years. The youngest age of smoking initiation was aged 5 reported by participants living in Belgium and Spain and the eldest age was 12 by participants living in Greece. Discussion: There are variations in the age of smoking initiation among populations with COPD across Europe, with some participants reporting smoking at a very young age. This observation of historical tobacco control policies and their effect on respiratory illness across Europe is interesting.

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