Respiratory Treatment and Prevention (Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology)

Keywords

Adolescents • Asthma • Chronic bronchitis • Cigarette smoking • Health

care

1 Introduction

Cigarette smoking is one of the most important
causes of different pulmonary symptoms and
diseases, from cough up to malignant neoplasms
(Beasley et al. 2015 ; Islami et al. 2015 ). In a
significant portion of persons cigarette smoking
begins early, between 10 and 18 years of age
(Bielska et al. 2015 ; Mazur et al. 2008 ). The
key role in a decision to start smoking plays the
family and school environment (Zaborskis and
Sirvyte 2015 ; Saracen 2010 ; Kowalewska and
Mazur 2008 ). Young people who smoke typi-
cally reveal symptoms of chronic bronchitis
(Chiarini et al. 2015 ; Saracen 2010 ). The goal
of the present study was to conduct an epidemio-
logical survey-type study concerning the pres-
ence of respiratory complaints and maladies in
a cohort of Polish high school students who self-
reported the cigarette smoking habit.

2 Methods

The study was approved by the Ethics Board for
Human Research of the Kazimierz Pulaski Uni-
versity of Technology and Humanities in the city
of Radom, Poland. Three thousand one hundred
and eight students, aged 15–19 years, who
represented 19 high school institutions of the
Mazovian voivodship in Central Poland, were
enrolled into the investigation. An author’s ques-
tionnaire, specifically written for the investiga-
tion, included questions concerning demographic
data such as gender, age, place of living (country,
city), and family economic status, as well as the
presence of symptoms of a pulmonary malady,
information on medical diagnosis and treatment,
cigarette smoking habit among respondents and
their family members, the amount of cigarettes
smoked daily, and the length of smoking period.

The questionnaire consisted of 23 classification

type items, with YES and NO responses. A self-

reported questionnaire seems an effective and

optimal method of gathering epidemiological

data on smoking habit in young populations

(Chiarini et al. 2015 ; Saracen 2010 ).

Categorical data were statistically examined

for the significance of the association between

corresponding structural classifications of the

population groups studied with a chi-squared

test or Fisher’s exact test. Associations between

variables were assessed with Pearson’s correla-

tion coefficient. A p-value of<0.05 was used to

define statistical significance.

3 Results

Three thousand one hundred and eight

adolescents enrolled into the study were stratified

into two age-groups: 15–16 years consisting of

1430 (46 %) subjects and 17–19 years consisting

of 1678 (54 %) subjects. Stratification of the

whole cohort by gender was as follows: 1694

(55 %) males and 1414 (45 %) females. One

thousand four hundred twenty eight (46 %)

subjects lived in cities and 1680 (54 %) lived in

the country.

Of the 1694 males, 1125 (66 %) were

non-smokers and 569 (34 %) smoked cigarettes.

Of the male smokers, 307 (54 %) smoked up to

20 cigarettes per day and 262 (46 %) smoked

more than 20 cigarettes per day. Two hundred

and twelve (37 %) smokers smoked cigarettes

for longer than a year.

Overall, 640 male subjects reported chronic

bronchitis, with the following distribution by the

smoking status: 404 (71 %) subjects of the

569 smokers and 236 (21 %) subjects of the 1125

non-smokers. The prevalence of chronic bronchitis

was significantly greater in smokers (p¼0.001).

82 A. Saracen