Just one puff enough to start a habit later on

New research in the UK suggests that it takes just one cigarette as a child to create the adult habit which so many find hard to kick.

In a study funded by Cancer Research UK it was found that trying cigarettes as a child made it twice as likely that a person would take up smoking.

The study on tobacco control, is the first to find a smoking "sleeper effect" - where desire remains years after the first cigarette and has encouraged Cancer Research UK to recommend that anti-smoking campaigns should focus on preventing children trying even one cigarette.

The researchers advise that prevention messages should also be targeted at children while they are still at primary school.

Two thousand young people in 36 London schools were surveyed every year from the age of 11 to 16 for the study and it was found that as many as 14% of 11-year olds and 62% of 15-year olds had smoked a cigarette.

It was revealed that 12% of 11-12 year olds who admitted smoking just once were more likely to take up smoking when they were older compared with those who had never smoked, even after a gap of up to three years of not smoking.

This is the first study that shows an early experience with one cigarette leads to smoking several years in the future.

Dr. Jennifer Fidler, a research psychologist at the Cancer Research UK health behaviour unit in London and the study leader, says the "sleeper effect" could be explained in several ways; even the amount of nicotine in a single cigarette may effect pathways in the brain increasing the likelihood that someone will start smoking in response to other triggers, such as stress; also trying a cigarette may break down barriers that might prevent someone taking up smoking - such as fear of being caught or insecurity about how to smoke.

Fidler says there are two important messages to be learned, firstly it may be more important than previously thought to try and prevent children from trying even one cigarette and, secondly, health professionals and those working in smoking prevention in schools need to be aware that those who have tried one cigarette, but are not smokers, are at risk.

Dr. Fidler's team found that the sleeper effect was still present after the usual factors that influence whether someone takes up smoking - ethnicity, gender, social deprivation, and whether a person's parents smoke - were taken into account.

Dr. Fidler said her study did not imply that all pupils who tried an early cigarette were likely to become smokers.