Age patterns of smoking initiation among Kuwait University male students

The present study is a detailed evaluation of age at smoking initiation amo ng university male students in Kuwait based on a random sample of 664 stude nts selected from all students during 1993. The Acturial Life Table analysi s revealed that almost one tenth of the students initiated cigarette smokin g between ages 16 and 17 with the rate of initiation increasing rapidly the reafter and reaching 30% by age 20 and almost 50% by the time they celebrat e their 24th birthday. The most important environmental risk factor positiv ely associated for smoking initiation was observed to be the history of smo king among siblings with a relative risk of 1.4. Compared to students of me dicine and engineering, the students of other faculties revealed a higher r isk in smoking initiation with an RR = 1.77 for sciences and commerce and 1 .61 for other faculties (arts, law, education and Islamic studies). The ana lysis revealed a rising generation trend in cigarette smoking. There is a n eed for reduction of this trend among young adults in Kuwait and throughout other countries in the region. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights r eserved.