BACKGROUND Adult smoking has its roots in adolescence. If individuals do not initiate smoking during this period it is unlikely they ever will. In high income countries, smoking rates among Indigenous youth are disproportionately high. However, despite a wealth of literature in other populations, there is less evidence on the determinants of smoking initiation among Indigenous youth. The aim of...

Adolescent smokers tend to have peers who smoke, but it is unclear whether this arises from self-selection of smoking peers or whether this is a causal effect on the uptake of smoking (incident smoking). The authors used school tutor group current smoking prevalence, an unbiased measure of peer smoking in high schools in the United Kingdom, to estimate the independent effect of peer smoking on ...

BACKGROUND Parental absence, due to death or separation from a parent, has been associated with smoking and alcohol consumption in adolescence and adulthood. The aim of this study was to investigate whether parental absence in early childhood was associated with smoking and alcohol uptake before adolescence. METHODS Data on 10 940 children from the UK's Millennium Cohort Study were used. Logi...

BACKGROUND Mortality from colorectal cancer (CRC) can be reduced drastically by early detection and early treatment. However, uptake of CRC screening is relatively low, about 50% for those whom the test is highly recommended. OBJECTIVES We examined the influence of and racial differences in depression, insomnia, alcohol use, and tobacco use on CRC screening uptake in the US. PATIENTS AND ME...

BACKGROUND Smoking in film is a risk factor for smoking uptake in adolescence. This study aimed to quantify exposure to smoking in film received by New Zealand audiences, and evaluate potential interventions to reduce the quantity and impact of this exposure. METHODS The ten highest-grossing films in New Zealand for 2003 were each analysed independently by two viewers for smoking, smoking ref...

Sugars, such as sucrose or invert sugar, have been used as tobacco ingredients in American-blend cigarettes to replenish the sugars lost during curing of the Burley component of the blended tobacco in order to maintain a balanced flavor. Chemical-analytical studies of the mainstream smoke of research cigarettes with various sugar application levels revealed that most of the smoke constituents d...

The placenta plays an important role in modulating xenobiotic passage from mother to fetus. Studies in mice have demonstrated that placental ABCB1 and ABCG2 can affect the transfer of drugs across the placental barrier, suggesting a role for these transporters in protecting the fetus from environmental toxicants or drugs ingested by the mother during pregnancy. To assess the role of these trans...

OBJECTIVES Combat exposure is known to increase the risk for mental disorders; however, less is known about the temporal relationship between mental disorders and alcohol misuse or smoking. To better understand these interrelationships, this study investigated mental disorders in association with hazardous drinking and cigarette smoking. METHODS Using data from a large population-based milita...