Youth tobacco control research and activities in the United States: the current national landscape

This paper highlights the increasing level of collaboration, resource sharing, and consensus building in youth tobacco control taking place in the United States. Better knowledge of current research, activities, and collaborations in this area will help in the planning of activities and the rational allocation of funds for tobacco control programs, research, advocacy, and the counter-advertising activities. We defined three general classifications for organizations that had national youth tobacco control activities: Government centers and institutes, government organizations, and bridging organizations. We asked national experts in our own organization and all other included organizations to suggest additional groups for inclusion. After gathering available public information on each organization from Web sites and printed materials, we than solicited additional information by personal communication with individuals in leadership positions for youth tobacco control within each group. We developed a uniform framework to present a clear picture of each group in the areas of institutional conception, general goals, youth tobacco control research, and youth tobacco control activities. The tables provide a helpful reference guide presenting the institutional conception, goals, funding for research, activities, and Web sites for the institutions and organizations discussed here. Many groups have current youth tobacco control priorities in the United States. This synthesis of current research, funding sources, programmatic activities, and collaborations in the United States will be a valuable resource for clinicians, tobacco control advocates, researchers, and program planners

Tobacco use in six economically disadvantaged communities in the Dominican Republic

general view, July, 197

The state of office-based interventions for youth tobacco use

Tobacco use is a serious pediatric health issue as dependence begins during childhood or adolescence in the majority of tobacco users. Primary care settings provide tremendous opportunities for delivering tobacco treatment to young tobacco users. Although evidence-based practice guidelines for treating nicotine dependence in youths are not yet available, professional organizations and the current clinical practice guideline for adults provide recommendations based on expert opinion. This article reports on the current tobacco treatment practices of pediatric and family practice clinicians, discusses similarities and differences between adolescent and adult tobacco use, summarizes research efforts to date and current cutting-edge research that may ultimately help to inform and guide clinicians, and presents existing recommendations regarding treating tobacco use in youths. Finally, recommendations are made for the primary care clinician, professional organizations, and health care systems and policies. Pediatricians and other clinicians can and should play an important role in treating tobacco dependence in youths

The Natural History and Diagnosis of Nicotine Addiction

Addicted smokers experience nicotine withdrawal anytime they go too long without smoking. Withdrawal presents as a continuum of symptoms of escalating severity described by smokers as “wanting,” then “craving,” and eventually “needing” to smoke. These may be followed by irritability, impatience, moodiness, difficulty concentrating, restlessness, and sleep disturbances. This spectrum of intensifying withdrawal symptoms creates a compulsion to smoke that makes quitting difficult. The compulsion to smoke is the core feature of nicotine addiction accounting for its clinical course, physiological characteristics, prognosis, and behavioral manifestations. A compulsion can develop quickly, having been experienced by one third of youth who have smoked only 3 or 4 cigarettes. Its physiologic basis is evident in neurophysiological measures and its recurrence after each cigarette at a characteristic interval. At first, a single cigarette can keep withdrawal at bay for weeks, but as addiction progresses, cigarettes must be smoked at progressively shorter intervals to suppress withdrawal symptoms. The physiologic need to repeatedly self-administer nicotine at shorter intervals explains a full spectrum of addictive symptoms ranging from the prodromal symptom of wanting, to chain smoking. The early process of nicotine addiction is recognized if a person experiences regular wanting for a cigarette. When symptoms include craving or needing, the now addicted patient is experiencing a compulsion to smoke. This simple diagnostic approach covers the full spectrum of addiction in smokers of all ages and levels of tobacco use, and is more valid than a clinical diagnosis based on the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual criteria