[Prevalence of smoking and low school performance, among students 11-24 years of age in the state of Morelos, Mexico]. / Prevalencia de tabaquismo y bajo desempeño escolar, en estudiantes de 11 a 24 años de edad del estado de Morelos, México.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between self-reported academic performance and tobacco experimentation and established tobacco use among adolescents and young adults in Morelos State, Mexico. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A population-based, cross-sectional study was carried out in 72 administrative areas from all 33 municipalities of Morelos State (urban, semi-urban and rural areas). A total of 13,293 adolescents and young adults aged 11 to 24 years were randomly selected from public schools. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Multinomial logistic regression models were fitted with smoking habit as the dependent variable with three categories (never a smoker, occasional smoker, and regular smokers). RESULTS: The prevalence of occasional smokers was 14.9% (95% CI 14.1-15.7) among females and 27.3% (95% CI 26.1-28.4) among males. The corresponding figures for females and males for established smokers were 6.1% (95% CI 5.6-6.6) and 13.1% (95% CI 12.2-13.9), respectively. Academic performance self-reports were found to be inversely proportional to occasional or regular tobacco use. In women, the association with current tobacco consumption was 5.1 times higher (95% CI 2.5-10.4) in women with a yearly grade average of six or less, in comparison to those with scores of ten or nine. The same pattern was observed in men (OR = 4.2; 95% CI 2.7-6.7), with a significant linear trend both in both women and men. CONCLUSIONS: These results evidence that tobacco consumption is related to low academic performance. This relationships is determined by complex lifestyle patterns of adolescents.