Study: Females in Sweden smoke earlier than anyone else

Girls from Sweden start to smoke at an earlier age in comparison with girls from other countries of the same age, according to a study.

Twice the number of Swedish girls are most likely to have started smoking by the time they turn fourteen, in comparison with girls from the same age group in other countries.

This kind of study and the facts related concern researchers in public health.

“It shows clearly that girls in Sweden begin at significantly younger ages than in other countries in Europe, which is alarming,” Margareta Haglund, a tobacco policy expert at the Swedish National Institute of Public Health (Folkhälsoinstitutet), told Svergies Radio.

The study was initiated by the International Cancer Institute in Lyon, France. Five thousand women, from European countries like Ireland, the Czech Republic, France, Italy and Sweden, replied to queries about when and why they had started smoking.

The results of the study was collected and processed in Sweden with the help of Haglund, who also warned about the repurcussions of starting to smoke during pre-teens or early teens.

“The earlier you start smoking, the larger the risk to your health. If you start before you are 15-years-old, there is a four times greater risk for developing lung cancer than if you start after 25,” she said.

Tobacco companies should never be given liberty to market their products and items to young people, and tobacco products should be sold from a slightly hidden perspective so that they are not easily visible to passers-by, advised Haglund.

Source: The Local