Does Cigarette Use Influence Adiposity or Height in Adolescence?
Received 5 July 2007; accepted 30 December 2007. published online 17 March 2008.
Purpose
To study the effect of cigarette use on height and adiposity in adolescents.
Methods
Data on cigarette use were collected every 3 months for 5 years from adolescents initially 12–13 years of age. Height, weight, and triceps skinfold thickness were measured in survey cycles 1, 12, and 19. Multivariate linear regression models were fitted to estimate the association between cigarette use and the anthropometric measures in a dataset that pooled data over two time periods, from survey cycles 1–12 and from survey cycles 12–19.
Results
Data were available for 451 boys and 478 girls. Seven percent of boys and 14% of girls smoked ≥30 cigarettes per month on average during the first time period; 9% of boys and 18% of girls smoked ≥30 cigarettes per month on average during the second time period. In boys, a 100-cigarette per month increment in cigarette use over the preceding 2.5 years was independently associated with lower body mass index (−0.4 kg/m2) and shorter height (−0.7 cm). In girls, cigarette use was not associated with height or adiposity.
Conclusions
While there was no relation in girls, cigarette use appears to decrease body mass index and height in boys. Young girls may be less likely to take up cigarette smoking if tobacco control messages emphasize that cigarette use may not be associated with reduced weight in adolescent females.
cInstitut National de Santé Publique du Québec, Montréal
dDepartment of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montréal
eDivision of Clinical Epidemiology, Montréal General Hospital
fDivision of Endocrinology, Ste-Justine Hospital Montréal
gDepartment of Health Policy Management and Evaluation, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
hSchool of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, McGill University, Montréal
Address correspondence to: Dr J. O'Loughlin, PhD, Centre de recherche du CHUM, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Montréal, 3875 rue Saint Urbain, First Floor, Montréal, QC, H2W 1V1, Canada. Tel.: (514) 890-8000, ext. 15858; fax: (514) 412-7137.
This research was funded by the National Cancer Institute of Canada with funds from the Canadian Cancer Society and by an Interdisciplinary Capacity Enhancement Grant from the Canadian Tobacco Control Research Initiative. J.O'L. holds a Canada Research Chair in the Early Determinants of Adult Chronic Disease. I.K. held a postdoctoral fellowship from GENESIS during his work on this article.
ABSTRACT