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SMOKING AND CESSATION ADVICE AMONG SCHOOLCHILDREN IN PULAU PINANG,
MALAYSIA
NMRR-16-2581-32534

Mohd Zaid A, Enny Esdayantey AM

Introduction: Tobacco smoking in children is a public health concern, since smoking-
related mortality unfortunately a significant cause of death in Malaysia. In order to
prevent smoking initiation at young age, determination of children and adolescent
smoking status has significant importance for anti-smoking policy planning and
implementation. Objective: This study aimed to determine the smoking prevalence and
factors related to smoking and smoking cessation advice among primary and secondary
school children in Pulau Pinang. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study using a
two-stage stratified random sampling was conducted in August 2016 among primary and
secondary school children in Pulau Pinang. A validated structured questionnaires on
history of ever smoking, knowledge related to smoking and health and its related factors
was used in this study. Results: The prevalence of smoking among the school children was
6.1% and all were male smokers (100%). While the majority of the students reported had
general knowledge on effects smoking towards health (99.5%), a substantial percentage
of the students (almost 12% ) reported they had little knowledge that nicotine addiction
can lead to drug addiction. In terms of their attitude towards tobacco control, highest
mean was recorded on item “smoking should be banned in public area” with mean of 4.51
(SD 0.70). Most of the students agreed that they were benefited from smoking cessation
intervention in the school (mean 4.35, SD 0.76), however reluctance to admit that
message given by health personnel could help them to quit smoking (mean 3.96, SD 1.15).
Conclusion: Even though smoking prevalence among the schoolchildren in Penang was
considerably low, intensification of health education and anti-smoking programmes at
early school age are recommended to prevent smoking initiation.

Keywords: smoking, cessation, schoolchildren

Poster presentation at the Asian Pacific Conference of Oral Health Promotion on Schoolchildren 2020

Dr Mohd Zaid Abdullah
Oral Health Division
Johor Bahru District Dental Office

Dr Enny Esdayantey Abdul Manab
Oral Health Division
Penang State Department

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