Early gender differences in adolescent tobacco use - The experience of a Swedish cohort

Background: In Sweden, the prevalence of tobacco use in the youth populatio n differs by product and gender. but there are no longitudinal studies of v ender differences in the uptake of smoking and use of oral snuff (OS). Meth ods: A prospective cohort study ongoing in the County of Stockholm, encompa ssing 3.019 children recruited in 1997 in the fifth grade of compulsory sch ool, of whom 96% were followed-up in the sixth grade. Results: At baseline, 22% of the boys and 15% of the girls had ever smoked. respectively 8% and 3% had ever used oral moist snuff. One year later, the overall smoking prev alence had markedly increased, as did the transition to more advanced stage s of smoking, especially among girls. Among boys who at baseline had only u sed oral snuff. 41% had also smoked cigarettes at follow-up. Lack of a firm intention to abstain from tobacco use was strongly associated with onset o f experimentation within one year, particularly among boys. Conclusions: To bacco uptake in pre-adolescence differs between genders. with an earlier in itiation among boys and a more rapid transition to regular smoking among gi rls. In most cases. experimentation with oral snuff among boys marks the tr ansition to cigarette smoking.