Self perceived health and smoking in adolescents.

Abstract

While long term health consequences of smoking as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, or pulmonary diseases have been largely analysed, short term health consequences of smoking have been poorly studied, as the case of teenage smokers who are short duration smokers. Some studies, mainly from the United States and northern European countries, have shown that more absence from school, poorer self perceived health, more frequent use of medication, and more frequent contact with health services are more prevalent among adolescent smokers.1,2 However, in southern European countries this relation has been rarely assessed. The aim of this study was to examine the association between daily smoking among adolescents and their self perceived health, different health problems, use of medication, and use of health services.