Meta-analysis of the effects of smoking prevention programs for young adolescents

Purpose: This meta-analysis aimed to analyze the effects of smoking prevention programs for young adolescents at early smoking stages to identify the appropriate characteristics of prevention programs for this population.Methods: Searches of health-related databases and Google Scholar were conducted, and 23 randomized studies were included in the analysis. The main outcome variable was smoking behavior. The analysis was conducted using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software (version 3.0).Results: Smoking prevention programs significantly reduced smoking behaviors (OR=0.85, 95% CI=0.77~0.93). School-based programs (OR=0.79, 95% CI=0.75~0.83), programs by trained teachers or educators (OR=0.77, 95% CI=0.71~0.83), high-intensity programs (OR=0.82, 95% CI=0.75~0.91), and programs in an in-school setting (OR=0.82, 95% CI=0.74~0.90) had the most significant effect on reducing smoking behavior.Conclusion: For young adolescents, smoking prevention programs are most effective when they are school-based or highintensity programs, and when conducted by teachers or educators with proper training. Further studies are required since there was insufficient research to explore the effect of web-based programs or family-centered programs on adolescent smokers.