Smoking by primary schoolchildren prevalence and associated respiratory symptoms.

8682 children between 10 and 11-1/2 years of age who were in their final year of primary school in Derbyshire England completed a self-administered questionnaire on their respiratory symptoms and smoking behavior. The children were grouped as urban or rural according to the location of the school they attended. 7115 children (3636 boys and 3479 girls) completed the questionnaire. Regular smoking was reported by 6.9% of the boys and 2.6% of the girls and a higher proportion of boys experimented with cigarettes. 11.5% of the boys who admitted smoking regularly smoked 1 or more cigarettes a day compared with 4.4% for the girls. No significant differences were found between the smoking habits of children from urban or rural schools. 7% of the children reported a morning cough 23% reported a cough at some time of the day or night and 4.5% reported that the cough lasted for 3 months or more. Children attending schools in urban areas reported significantly more symptoms than those in rural areas. Smokers reported more respiratory symptoms than non-smokers regardless of urban or rural location of school. For each of the respiratory symptoms considered urban smokers reported the highest rate. Reported respiratory symptoms were found to be associated independently with smoking and with urban/rural location of school. As confirmed habitual smoking and early lung damage are known to cause severe respiratory disease in later life efforts must be made to persuade children at primary school not to start smoking.