Sources of cigarettes for youth smokers in Malaysia: Findings from the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2022: Adolescents Health Survey (AHS)
Introduction Developing effective intervention programs to lower adolescent smoking requires a thorough understanding of the sources and methods of youth tobacco product acquisition. This study aimed to identify the sources of cigarettes and related variables among adolescent smokers in Malaysian sc...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
European Publishing
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Tobacco Induced Diseases |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tobaccoinduceddiseases.org/Sources-of-cigarettes-for-youth-smokers-in-Malaysia-Findings-from-the-National-Health,201987,0,2.html |
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| Summary: | Introduction
Developing effective intervention programs to lower adolescent
smoking requires a thorough understanding of the sources and methods of youth
tobacco product acquisition. This study aimed to identify the sources of cigarettes
and related variables among adolescent smokers in Malaysian schools using the
latest national data from the National Health and Morbidity Survey: Adolescents
Health (NHMS: AHS) 2022.
Methods
We conducted the NHMS 2022: AHS to obtain a representative sample of
school-age teenagers via a cross-sectional study design and a multi-stage sampling
approach. We selected 1934 school-going adolescents aged 13–17 years who have
smoked at least once in the previous 30 days from a total of 33523 respondents
in the study. Data were collected from the participants using a pre-validated selfadministered
questionnaire. The analysis involved calculating adjusted odds ratios
(AORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Furthermore, we examined
potential two-way interactions between the independent variables.
Results
The study found that 6.2% (95% CI: 5.9–6.6) of teenagers in schools are
currently smoking, with a notably higher percentage of male to female current
smokers (10.8% vs 1.6%). Approximately 23.1% of current smokers are frequent
smokers. Almost three-quarters of current smokers obtained their cigarettes from
fixed premises (38.9%), and that friends (34.9%) were the primary sources of
cigarettes among adolescents. The data show that more than half (59.7%, 95%
CI: 57.0–62.4) of current smokers obtained cigarettes from commercial sources.
Conclusions
The study found that a notably more significant proportion of
adolescent smokers obtained their cigarettes from commercial vendors compared
to their friends. These finding implies that increased law enforcement and health
promotion programs are needed to lower the incidence of adolescent smoking
in Malaysia. |
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| ISSN: | 1617-9625 |