Factors related to the smoking relapse of out-of-school adolescents

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors related to relapse within six months of cessation of smoking in out-of-school adolescents. Methods: The study included 45 adolescents who applied to the outreaching smoking cessation service provided by Daejeon Tobacco Control Center between July 2015 and March 2017 and maintained the abstinence for four weeks since registering for the service. The data on the participants were collected from the Integrated Information System for Smoking Cessation Services and analyzed using The Kaplan-Meier analysis and the Cox proportional hazard model. Results: Our results indicated that the rate of smoking relapse within six months was 75.6%. The variables related to this relapse were attempts to quit smoking in last one year and frequency of counseling. Adolescents who had previously tried to quit smoking were more likely to relapse than those who had never tried quitting (hazard ratio [HR]=4.24; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.38-13.02). Additionally, if the number of counseling sessions to quit smoking was nine or more, the likelihood of relapse was reduced as compared to when the sessions were five or less. (HR=0.19; 95% CI=0.06-0.60 for ≥9 vs. ≤5 sessions). Conclusion: Our results indicate that it is necessary to offer continued and consistent counseling, focusing on their confidence in quitting, for out-of-school adolescents to discourage a relapse of smoking.