There has been a massive 40 per cent drop in the number of adolescents smoking cigarettes in one health board region over the past five years, according to research published yesterday.
The study of 1,426 adolescents between 12 and 19 was conducted in the North Eastern Health Board (NEHB) region last year, and the fall-off in smoking is compared with the findings of a similar study carried out in 1997.
It found 18.2 per cent of adolescents in the region were regular smokers in 2002, compared to 30.7 per cent in 1997. "This represents a reduction of 40.7 per cent in the number of regular adolescent smokers from 1997," the health board's director of public health, Dr Fenton Howell, said.
Dr Howell, who is also spokesman for the anti-smoking campaign organisation ASH, said it appeared young people were beginning to hear the message on the dangers of smoking.
"We do a fairly extensive school-based health promotion campaign in this area," he said. Those who participated in the study attended 24 randomly selected post-primary schools in the region.
"There is probably an attitudinal change among young people recognising that tobacco products are not cool at all. But it obviously does not apply to them all, as there is still a significant number smoking. We still have a way to go."
Other studies have also found smoking rates are going down but not to such a dramatic extent. The national health and lifestyle survey published earlier this year showed a drop in numbers smoking from 31 per cent in 1998 to 27 per cent in 2002.
The NEHB study found the vast majority of regular smokers aged under 18 were buying their cigarettes themselves, though it is illegal to sell cigarettes to persons under 18.
The study noted a slight drop in the numbers drinking alcohol but an increase in binge-drinking and drunkenness among adolescents. Some 53 per cent said they were regular drinkers (consuming one or more drinks per week) in 2002 compared to 57 per cent in 1997. But 30 per cent indicated in 2002 that they had more than five drinks on a Saturday night, up 3 per cent on 1997, and 6.9 per cent said they had more than 10 drinks on a Saturday night, up from 3.5 per cent in 1997.
Furthermore, 27 per cent of the sample reported they were drunk on 10 or more occasions in 2002, compared to 24 per cent in the previous study.
An increase in the proportion of those misusing illicit drugs was also found - cannabis was the main drug of misuse. Some 15 per cent in the latest study said they misuse drugs regularly, compared to 11.9 per cent in 1997.