INTRODUCTION Among adult emergency department (ED) patients, we sought to examine how estimates of substance use prevalence and the need for interventions can differ, based on the type of screening and assessment strategies employed. METHODS We estimated the prevalence of substance use and the need for interventions using the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) ...

BACKGROUND The National Cancer Institute funded an 8-year, nonrandomized demonstration project for tobacco prevention and control, the American Stop Smoking Intervention Study (ASSIST). To evaluate ASSIST, we compared changes in adult smoking prevalence, per capita cigarette consumption, and tobacco control policies between the 17 ASSIST states and the 33 non-ASSIST states and the District of C...

INTRODUCTION A survey conducted by the German Federal Centre for Health Education in 2012 showed that 35.2% of all young adults (18-25 years) and 12.0% of all adolescents (12-17 years) in Germany are regular cigarette smokers. Most smoked their first cigarette in early adolescence. We recently reported a significantly positive short-term effect of a physician-delivered school-based smoking prev...

INTRODUCTION School-based smoking prevention programmes can be effective, but evidence on cost-effectiveness is lacking. We conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis of a school-based "peer-led" intervention. METHODS We evaluated the ASSIST (A Stop Smoking In Schools Trial) programme in a cluster randomized controlled trial. The ASSIST programme trained students to act as peer supporters during...

Most smokers start young. Initiation of cigarette smoking at an earlier age leads to more life-years for tobacco use, makes quitting harder, and increases the risk of serious health consequences. Despite these challenges, research focusing on smoking behavior among adolescent boys in Taiwan is rare. Although the Taiwanese government enacted the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act in 2009, aimed at p...

OBJECTIVE Cigarette smoking and other forms of tobacco use are addictive and harmful. Though no level of smoking is safe, children and adolescents who are medically at-risk due to the presence of a chronic or life-threatening disease may be especially vulnerable to these dangers. This article provides an overview of considerations in the prevention of tobacco use in this special population. M...

Smoking among children and adolescents is a pressing public health issue that demands the development, improvement and implementation of programmes aimed at the prevention and cessation of smoking on a global scale. The objective of our article is to review the main types of interventions for smoking prevention and cessation among children and adolescents. These interventions are based on a wid...