Young people who engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity from childhood may be less likely to start smoking tobacco, new research suggests.
Using data from the Children of the 90s cohort, a long-term study based in the UK, the researchers found that moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) from age 11 was associated with a lower chance of children starting smoking at age 13. MVPA could potentially prevent 60 per cent of children from smoking initiation.
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The protective effect of MVPA was weakened as age increased and was less effective in preventing smoking in late teenage and early adult years.
Smoking behaviours
The study, undertaken by the University of Eastern Finland in collaboration with the universities of Bristol and Exeter, is the longest-running research of its kind, tracking physical activity and its relationship to smoking behaviours in young people. The findings are published in Behaviour Research and Therapy.
Researchers analysed data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) to track physical activity in the 2,503 children at ages 11, 15 and 24. They measured sedentary time (ST), light physical activity (LPA), and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) using ActiGraph, a wearable movement tracker. The young people also answered smoking-based questionnaires, and fat mass was measured at the same ages.
According to the research, 1.5 per cent of participants smoked at age 13, 3.5 per cent of children smoked tobacco at age 15, and 26.6 per cent at age 24.
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MVPA from childhood through young adulthood was linked to a lower risk of both starting and continuing smoking.
Higher levels of MVPA at age 11 were significantly linked to a lower likelihood of smoking at age 13. The researchers found that 6 out of 1,000 children who took part in MVPA at age 11 began tobacco smoking by 13 years old. When compared with the prevalence of smoking in the whole age group (15 out of 1,000), MVPA can be linked to a reduced risk of smoking, preventing the commencement of smoking in 60 per cent of 13-year-olds.
Impact of exercise with age
The effect of MVPA reduced as children got older. At age 24, 266 out of 1,000 young adults smoked. Continuous exposure to MVPA from childhood through young adulthood cumulatively lowered the risk of beginning and continuing tobacco smoking from ages 13 years to age 24 years in 8 out of 1,000 children, showing MVPA has a small but positive effect in reducing smoking uptake over time.
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In addition, teenagers who were non-smokers at ages 13 and 15 years were more active at age 24, spending an extra 15 minutes a day in MVPA compared with those who had a history of smoking at ages 13 and 15 years.
Professor Andrew Agbaje, from the University of Eastern Finland, said: ‘The MVPA-smoking preventive potential had a strong causal consistency across all tested statistical models, but the effect diminished by young adulthood. This requires supportive legislation to prevent tobacco smoking and/or nicotine use initiation from mid-teens through young adulthood.’
