Subjective knowledge of school adolescents about the health effects of smoking and association with smoking status

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the subjective knowledge (SK) of adolescents about the health effects of smoking and association with smoking status. A cross-sectional school survey was carried out in Goiás, Midwestern Brazil. Participants were 3034 students aged 13-19. SK was assessed by three questions about ‘How do you evaluate your knowledge on:’ (1) ‘Effects of smoking on the general health of people who smoke’, (2) ‘Effects of smoking on the oral health of people who smoke’, (3) ‘Effects of other people smoking on the health of people who do not smoke (passive smokers)’. Smoking status categories were never-smoker, former smoker, and smoker. Poisson regression was used in the statistical analysis. Prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CI) are reported. About half of the participants had low SK about general health effects of smoking, and most had low SK about oral health (62.9%) and second-hand effects (61.5%). Compared with smokers and former smokers, never-smokers were more likely to have low SK about general (1.52; 95%CI=1.25-1.85), oral (1.17; 95%CI=1.03-1.32) and second-hand effects (1.21; 95%CI=1.16-1.38) of smoking. Adolescents’ SK about the health effects of smoking tended to be low, especially among never smokers.