Now scientists say young people under 22 should be banned from buying cigarettes after study finds smokers who pick up habit before age of 20 find it harder to quit
- The study found that smokers who pick up the habit before age 20 find it more difficult to quit
- The minimum age to buy cigarettes in Britain is 18, compared to 16 in 2007
Young people should not be allowed to buy tobacco products until the age of 22, researchers say.
Scientists found that smokers who start this habit before the age of 20 find it harder to quit and said raising the minimum age to buy nicotine could reduce nicotine dependence.
The study examined 1,382 smokers who visited a clinic in Kyoto, Japan, that helps people quit.
Patients were divided into two groups based on the age at which they started smoking: younger than 20 years or 20 years and older. They all completed the Fagerstrom test for nicotine dependence, which assesses the intensity of a smoker’s physical addiction to nicotine.
The test asked questions including “How soon after you wake up did you smoke your first cigarette?” and ‘how many cigarettes a day do you smoke?’, with patients scoring for each answer.
The grade amounted to a dependency score of low (one-two), low to moderate (three-four), moderate (five-seven), or high (eight or more).
Scientists have found that smokers who start this habit before the age of 20 find it harder to quit (Stock Image)
About 556 started smoking before age 20 (the legal age in Japan), while 826 started later
About 556 started smoking before age 20 (the legal age in Japan), while 826 started later.
Those who started this habit before age 20 reported smoking 25 cigarettes a day, compared to 22 a day in the late-starting group.
Of the early starters, 46 percent had successfully quit smoking, compared with 56 percent of those who started smoking at age 20 or older.
The findings were presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Amsterdam.
Author Dr. Koji Hasegawa, of the National Hospital Organization Kyoto Medical Center, said: ‘Early smoking initiation is associated with greater nicotine dependence, even at a young age.
“The research indicates that raising the legal age to purchase tobacco to 22 or older could lead to a reduction in the number of people who are addicted to nicotine and at risk of adverse health consequences.”
The minimum age to buy cigarettes in Britain is 18, up from 16 in 2007.
It is estimated that 13.3 per cent of the over-18s in Britain – 6.6 million people – were smoking by 2021. According to NHS England, smoking causes around 76,000 deaths a year.
In 2019, the government announced its goal of making England ‘smoke-free’ by 2030, effectively meaning that only 5 per cent of the population will smoke. A report called The Khan Review, published in 2022, suggests that the legal smoking age be raised by one each year from 18 until no one in the country can legally purchase a tobacco product.