Young female smokers more likely to try to quit

Older female smokers are less likely to try to extinguish their habit Keystone Archive

A seven-year study conducted in Geneva shows that young women smokers are more likely to try to quit the habit than their older counterparts.

The extensive data on more than 1,600 women was collected and analysed by researchers at Geneva University Hospital. The results could be helpful in campaigns to help people stop smoking.

“There seems to be a difference in how younger women – that’s to say 35-55-year- olds – approach smoking and attempt to quit smoking,” Michael Costanza from the department of community medicine at Geneva University Hospital told swissinfo.

“What we’re finding is that women who are less than 55 (and the younger they are, the more this holds), tend to smoke more, start earlier and also tend to quit more and quit earlier.”

The researchers said the phenomenon could have major implications for prevention.

Targeting teens

“Starting among teenagers is probably inevitable,” said Costanza. “It’s just as important to focus on getting people to quit as getting people not to start.”

The findings are based on annual surveys of women living in Geneva conducted over seven years. A woman was classified as having attempted to quit if she had stopped smoking for two years but then began smoking again.

Among all women who had tried to quit, younger women had on average made more attempts, compared with older women. Individuals who had started smoking before the age of 25 were more likely to try to quit smoking, compared with women who picked up the habit later on.

It is not clear why younger women may be more inclined to try to quit smoking but the researchers suggest that this group may be more aware of the health risk of cigarettes or they may have better access to new tools for quitting, such as nicotine patches and gum.

by Vincent Landon