ArticlePloS one2018
Trends in smoking initiation in Europe over 40 years: A retrospective cohort study.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 79 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
79 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 126 citations in OpenAlex.
- Beyond MPOWER: a systematic review of population-level factors that affect European tobacco smoking rates.European journal of public health · 2023Pooled it
- Effectiveness of a Digital Health Game Intervention on Early Adolescent Smoking Refusal Self-Efficacy.Health education & behavior : the official publication of the Society for Public Health Education · 2024Trial
- Ever-smokers in Norway and lung cancer: median time from self-reported smoking debut to lung cancer diagnosis in 11 prospective population studies (CONOR).ERJ open research · 2026Article
- Mystery shopping of tobacco, nicotine and alcohol products in 20 European countries: a cross-sectional study in the JAPreventNCD project.European journal of public health · 2026Article
- The Impact of the Transition into First Employment on Smoking Behavior Among Young Workers in China.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Cigarette smoking across life from 1946 to 2018: Harmonisation of four British birth cohort studies.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
- European Code Against Cancer, 5th edition - tobacco and nicotine containing products, second-hand smoke, alcohol and cancer.Molecular oncology · 2026Review
- Sociodemographic and behavioral factors associated with time to first cigarette upon waking: Findings from the Malaysian national tobacco survey 2023.Tobacco induced diseases · 2026Article
- Dual use of novel tobacco products and socioeconomic paradox in smoking cessation: An age-period-cohort analysis of KNHANES data 2007-2022.Tobacco induced diseases · 2026Article
- Trends in initiation of regular cigarette smoking in 28 European countries, 1940-2019: retrospective reconstruction from repeated cross-sectional surveys.European journal of public health · 2025Article
- Early Life Physical Activity Patterns and Its Survival to Adult Activity Levels: The Longitudinal ABIS Study.Sports medicine - open · 2025Article
- Waterpipe use in Germany (2018 - 2024): Prevalence and sociodemographic differences in age of initiation.Journal of health monitoring · 2025Article
- Trends in the Global Incidence of Pancreatic Cancer and a Brief Review of its Histologic and Molecular Subtypes.Journal of gastrointestinal cancer · 2025Review
- The more smoking the more cataract: A study on smoking, snus use and cataract in a Swedish population.Acta ophthalmologica · 2025Article
- Cardiovascular disease in pregnancy: Prevalence and obstetric outcomes in a Swedish population-based cohort study between 2000 and 2019.Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica · 2024Observational
- Cohort Effects on Tobacco Consumption and Its Genetic and Environmental Variance Among Finnish Adults Born Between 1880 and 1957.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2024Article
- Factors Related to Tobacco Cessation Attempts Among Turkish Adolescents: A Structural Equation Model Analysis.Thoracic research and practice · 2024Article
- Article
- Sex-related inequalities in current cigarette smoking among adolescents in Africa.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2024Article
- Patient's Perception of the Role of Gym Activity in Abdominal Wall Herniation in Adults: A Prospective Study.Sports medicine - open · 2024Article
19 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
20 authors at 14 institutions in 9 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundTobacco consumption is the largest avoidable health risk. Understanding changes of smoking over time and across populations is crucial to implementing health policies. We evaluated trends in smoking initiation between 1970 and 2009 in random samples of European populations.
methodsWe pooled data from six multicentre studies involved in the Ageing Lungs in European Cohorts consortium, including overall 119,104 subjects from 17 countries (range of median ages across studies: 33-52 years). We estimated retrospectively trends in the rates of smoking initiation (uptake of regular smoking) by age group, and tested birth cohort effects using Age-Period-Cohort (APC) modelling. We stratified all analyses by sex and region (North, East, South, West Europe).
resultsSmoking initiation during late adolescence (16-20 years) declined for both sexes and in all regions (except for South Europe, where decline levelled off after 1990). By the late 2000s, rates of initiation during late adolescence were still high (40-80 per 1000/year) in East, South, and West Europe compared to North Europe (20 per 1000/year). Smoking initiation rates during early adolescence (11-15 years) showed a marked increase after 1990 in all regions (except for North European males) but especially in West Europe, where they reached 40 per 1000/year around 2005. APC models supported birth cohort effects in the youngest cohorts.
conclusionSmoking initiation is still unacceptably high among European adolescents, and increasing rates among those aged 15 or less deserve attention. Reducing initiation in adolescents is fundamental, since youngsters are particularly vulnerable to nicotine addiction and tobacco adverse effects.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.