US campaign contributes to 7% fall in smoking among teenagers
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《英国医生杂志》
A national anti-tobacco advertising campaign that emphasised the health related effects of tobacco led to 22% of the decrease in smoking among US school students over a two year period (American Journal of Public Health 2005;95:425-31).
The "truth" campaign, sponsored by the American Legacy Foundation, a non-profit group that spearheads anti-smoking campaigns, includes graphic images of the toll exacted by tobacco use. For example, one television advertisement from the campaign featured young people placing 1200 body bags outside of the headquarters of a tobacco company to highlight the number of daily deaths related to tobacco.
Researchers evaluated the programme抯 effectiveness by using data from the "monitoring the future" annual surveys to relate trends in the prevalence of smoking in school students to varied doses of the "truth" campaign. These annual surveys were conducted in a national sample of about 50 000 students in grades 8 (aged13-14), 10 (aged15-16), and 12 (aged 17-18) surveyed each spring from 1997 to 2002.
The researchers, led by Dr Matthew Farrelly of RTI International (an independent, non-profit corporation doing healthcare policy research based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina), found that smoking prevalence among all the students declined from 25.3% to 18.0% between 1999 and 2002. The annual percentage decline for all grades was 3.2% during 1997 to 1999 (that is, before the launch of the campaign) compared with 6.8% after the campaign launch.
The researchers said that the campaign accounted for about 22% of this decline. They arrived at that figure mainly by measuring how much each student saw of the campaign and what their relative reduction in smoking was. They estimated that the truth campaign prevented about 300 000 young people from becoming smokers between 2000 and 2002.
In addition, the study found that the higher the number of campaign advertisements the participants saw, the lower the prevalence of smoking.
The study had a few limitations, including its measures of the prevalence of smoking in young people, which were self reported and may be subject to social desirability bias—for example, young people in areas with high exposure to the campaign may be less likely to report smoking than those in areas with low exposure. The estimated campaign effects may have been due to other, unmeasured youth focused prevention activities, such as school prevention programmes for substance misuse.
Tobacco companies agreed to pay into a fund that contributes to the truth campaign as part of the $206bn (?07bn; �156bn) settlement reached with 46 states in 1998. But the agreement allowed companies to stop paying after five years if their market share in any state was below 99%. With small manufacturers gaining a foothold in the market, large tobacco companies have probably already made their last payment into the fund, says the foundation抯 president, Cheryl Healton.
The prevalence of smoking among young people is the lowest in 28 years, but campaign organisers said it might not stay that way without countering tobacco companies?consistent messages.
The tobacco companies also pay for anti-smoking campaigns. Philip Morris USA, for example, has spent more than $600m since 1998 trying to stop young people smoking, including grants to schools and other groups that focus on youth development, said company spokeswoman Jennifer Golisch.(New York Scott Gottlieb)
The "truth" campaign, sponsored by the American Legacy Foundation, a non-profit group that spearheads anti-smoking campaigns, includes graphic images of the toll exacted by tobacco use. For example, one television advertisement from the campaign featured young people placing 1200 body bags outside of the headquarters of a tobacco company to highlight the number of daily deaths related to tobacco.
Researchers evaluated the programme抯 effectiveness by using data from the "monitoring the future" annual surveys to relate trends in the prevalence of smoking in school students to varied doses of the "truth" campaign. These annual surveys were conducted in a national sample of about 50 000 students in grades 8 (aged13-14), 10 (aged15-16), and 12 (aged 17-18) surveyed each spring from 1997 to 2002.
The researchers, led by Dr Matthew Farrelly of RTI International (an independent, non-profit corporation doing healthcare policy research based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina), found that smoking prevalence among all the students declined from 25.3% to 18.0% between 1999 and 2002. The annual percentage decline for all grades was 3.2% during 1997 to 1999 (that is, before the launch of the campaign) compared with 6.8% after the campaign launch.
The researchers said that the campaign accounted for about 22% of this decline. They arrived at that figure mainly by measuring how much each student saw of the campaign and what their relative reduction in smoking was. They estimated that the truth campaign prevented about 300 000 young people from becoming smokers between 2000 and 2002.
In addition, the study found that the higher the number of campaign advertisements the participants saw, the lower the prevalence of smoking.
The study had a few limitations, including its measures of the prevalence of smoking in young people, which were self reported and may be subject to social desirability bias—for example, young people in areas with high exposure to the campaign may be less likely to report smoking than those in areas with low exposure. The estimated campaign effects may have been due to other, unmeasured youth focused prevention activities, such as school prevention programmes for substance misuse.
Tobacco companies agreed to pay into a fund that contributes to the truth campaign as part of the $206bn (?07bn; �156bn) settlement reached with 46 states in 1998. But the agreement allowed companies to stop paying after five years if their market share in any state was below 99%. With small manufacturers gaining a foothold in the market, large tobacco companies have probably already made their last payment into the fund, says the foundation抯 president, Cheryl Healton.
The prevalence of smoking among young people is the lowest in 28 years, but campaign organisers said it might not stay that way without countering tobacco companies?consistent messages.
The tobacco companies also pay for anti-smoking campaigns. Philip Morris USA, for example, has spent more than $600m since 1998 trying to stop young people smoking, including grants to schools and other groups that focus on youth development, said company spokeswoman Jennifer Golisch.(New York Scott Gottlieb)